


Dirk Gently and The Ghosts of Time

by Fae_Fiction



Series: Dirk Gently Case-Fics (linear connected timeline) [1]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Autistic Dirk Gently, Bisexual Todd Brotzman, Canon Gay Relationship, Cinnamon Roll Dirk Gently, Detectives, Dirk Gently Being Dirk Gently, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Dirk Gently Whump, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gay Dirk Gently, Gen, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, New case, Oblivious Dirk Gently, Pararibulitis (Dirk Gently), Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), Todd Brotzman is Bad at Feelings, Todd Brotzman is a Good Boyfriend, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, dghda season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 54,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26978983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fae_Fiction/pseuds/Fae_Fiction
Summary: This is basically my version of Season 3 so buckle up and get ready for a wild, crazy, holistic ride. And oh, keep an eye out and pay attention to "irrelevant" details...They've got a new case. But this time they're finally going through it as Detective and Assis-Boyfriend.When Todd's neighbor has a ghost in her apartment Dirk and Todd come to solve the case. Except they solved it much sooner than they anticipated, at least part of it. The universe is just getting started. This is just the tip of the iceberg, actually, no. It's the whole iceberg in the Arctic Ocean.
Relationships: Amanda Brotzman & The Rowdy 3, Amanda Brotzman & Todd Brotzman, Bart Curlish & Dirk Gently, Bart Curlish & Ken, Dirk Gently & Mona Wilder, Farah Black & Dirk Gently, Farah Black & Tina Tevetino, Farah Black & Todd Brotzman, Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently, Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently & Tina Tevetino, Farah Black/Tina Tevetino, Silas Dengdamor/Prince Panto Trost, Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently, Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently
Series: Dirk Gently Case-Fics (linear connected timeline) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006077
Comments: 52
Kudos: 30





	1. Confessions

It was an ordinary day, well truthfully every day is ordinary, everything is ordinary. It's what you choose to focus on that makes something extraordinary.

So if you _chose_ to ignore the revving engine outside Todd's apartment you could categorize this day as ordinary. Choosing to _not_ ignore it, today was anything but ordinary. That engine meant one thing and one thing only.

And though he was promised that his possessions would be safe, he still felt knots in his stomach, bracing for impact.

He sat on the couch, waiting for that knock when he heard it. He got up to open the door and was met with not only his sister but 5 other people.

"Oh no, I said they stay outside," Todd said.

Vogel and Beast waved enthusiastically while the rest of them stood emotionless. Martin, Gripps, and Cross all despised him. And he felt he deserved it despite Amanda's insistence he has improved. "Oh come on! They just want to say 'Hi'." She said.

"Where Bibbit?!" Beast pushed the rest of them out of the way to get in Todd's face.

"Dirk?" He backed up and she followed, smiling, "I-uh-he's, he's not here. Just me, no Bibbit." He mouthed 'get her away from me!'

"Come' ere Beast," Martin waved his arm in, "Leave Drummer's brother alone." She reluctantly walked back to the group.

"Ok, you've said hi, now please... leave." His voice raised slightly at the end.

"See ya soon, Amanda." Martin hugged her and the rest of the group followed suit and then left.

"BYE DRUMMER'S BROTHER!" Vogel waved again and hopped off.

"So... how've you been?" He asked, motioning for her to come inside. She dropped off her backpack next to the couch and sat down.

"Good, you?"

"Good..." He sat down next to her.

"Good."

"Good."

A moment of silence hung in the air before Todd finally spoke. "Oh, this is ridiculous! I know, I messed up. I messed up real bad. But why did you want to come visit if you hadn't forgiven me?! I mean... we haven't sat down and talked in months, no calls, rare texts. Why visit me all of a sudden?

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Amanda. I really am. I've changed."

She chuckled, "I know that. That's why I'm here. I wanted to hopefully try again, let you try to fix things."

"Thank you." He hugged her.

"I'm sorry for not texting or calling."

"Don't blame yourself, I could have texted or called, it's both our faults... mainly mine."

"Ok," they separated, "Tell me everything about your latest case. Eight months, there has to be one."

"Actually, there haven't been any. It's really, really boring."

"Really?"

"Really."

"How's Farah?" She smiled and nudged him.

"We broke up." He said nonchalantly.

"What?! Why?" She had actually been secretly waiting for this, she had someone much better for her brother in mind.

"We just kinda worked better as friends." He shrugged.

"How long ago?"

"Four months ago." She smiled, not too soon, but also was annoyed he hadn't told her.

"You ok?" Fingers crossed...

"Fine. Like I said, we just didn't work. She actually got together with Tina about a month after. I have no idea how they make long-distance work, Tina doesn't seem like the patient type."

"Oh good for her! So... that's Farah, how about Dirk? How's he?"

"You know him, always sunny, can't sit still. He's doing the worst out of all of us with the lack of cases."

"That sounds like Dirk."

"He texts me every time he sees anything! Doesn't matter what it is, 'Todd! I've found a piece of gum on the sidewalk! What do you think it means?'" He laughed. "Oh, this one's hilarious! He calls me one day saying he's watching a movie, 'TODD! There's this movie, Ringing of The Three Lords, and the main character Frito looks uncannily like you. It's like you're twins! Todd, I think there's a cult that clones people!"

"What movie was he even talking about?" Amanda joined his laughing.

"Lord of The Rings!"

"Wait, I've never thought about it, you _do_ look like Frodo." She paused for dramatic emphasis, "Todd, maybe there is a clone cult!" She continued laughing hysterically.

"Dirk, he is something." He smiled to himself. _Smiling to himself, that's good_. Amanda thought.

"Actually, that was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Dirk? What do you mean?"

"Yeah, what do you think of him?"

"He's great, he's Dirk.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, you know what I mean."

"No, I don't, I actually don't." He furrowed his brows.

"You know... do you like him?"

"Like I said, he's Dirk, he's great. He's my best friend."

"Stop lying. You _like_ , like him, don't you?" He seemed taken back by her statement, offended to his core.

"NO!" He stood up defensively and walked to the kitchen, attempting to avoid the conversation. "Water?"

"Oh, you _so_ like him." Amanda laughed at him.

"No, I don't!" Todd scoffed, obviously lying, "He's my best friend."

" _Mm-hm_ , sure." She rolled her eyes. "It's obvious. From what Farah told me about when you met for the first time after months, you two definitely like each other."

"You think he likes me?" Todd blushed.

"Ah-HA! I knew it! You _DO_ like him!"

"Ok... maybe I do. But so what?! You know I'm bi, why is this such a big deal?!"

"Because Dirk fucking Gently, the man who meets everyone through the universe's design, came into your life and is your best friend. Dude! He's like your soulmate or something!" She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated with his denial.

"But he could be into any of us! He came into all of our lives."

"He is literally the _gayest_ man I have ever seen." She had a point. "Plus, Wakti said something about you two."

"Wakti?!" His eyes widened.

"Yep." She lied, she needed to say anything to get him to admit his feelings to Dirk.

"So it's official, it's destiny or something." He sulked in defeat, _destiny..._ The thought was terrifying. _Destiny._

"I wouldn't call it _destiny_ , more like... I don't know, you know what? Let's just call it holistic."

"Holistic? So basically destiny."

"I guess." She shrugged.

Todd paced back and forth, struggling to wrap his head around all of this. Was it that obvious that he liked Dirk? Amanda was his sister, after all, he can't hide things from her. But even Farrah knew it. Does everyone? "If it's so obvious why doesn't Dirk know? If he knew he would have done something by now."

"He's autistic, he's not the best at social cues."

"Shit, Amanda, what if I mess it up?! I mess everything up. I'm an ass, Amanda! I fuck everything up!" He came back and sat down next to her and buried his head in his hands.

"You kinda are."

"Hey!" He laughed and playfully shoved her.

"Look, he likes you, you can't mess it up."

"Sure at first, but then what if we fight? Knowing me it will probably happen." Tears welled up in his eyes, he didn't tend to show emotion, but this? This was different. And he truly meant every word of what he would say next; "I can't lose him. I can't. My life sucked before I knew him. Sure everything is dangerous around him, but... it's fun. It's addicting. I didn't know how miserable I was before I met him until after I lost him. I can't lose him again."

"Oh Todd," she tried to comfort him. "You can't lose him. He always comes back. Even when you mess things up, people who are important come back... Look at me!" She threw her arms out, "You probably wronged me the worst."

"You don't need to remind me."

"My point is... I'm here. And Dirk Gently does not walk away easily."

"No, he does not." He laughed, shaking his head. "So... what do you want me to do?"

"TELL HIM GODDAMNIT!"

"Fine, fine. I'll tell him."

"Good."

* * *

Todd walked back and forth at the agency, panicking slightly. A moth fluttered by and landed on his shoulder before he shooed it off.

Where was he? He told Dirk to meet him there. So where was he? He wasn't late or anything, Todd was actually early. He's never early, he just wanted to get this over with. Telling your best friend you like him is never easy. Amanda and Farah seemed confident that Dirk liked him back. Hell, when he confessed to Farah she told him that Tina even thought they were a thing! He was still petrified at the thought of rejection. Petrified at the thought of losing him. He didn't drive Farah away after they broke up, maybe he won't lose Dirk? It felt different somehow.

Just then, he saw Dirk's red Jeep pull up. His heart was lifted when he saw that brilliant smile.

"Todd! You actually asked _me_ to come and talk to _you_." Dirk ran to him to give him a large, friendly hug. "That's rare for you. Either something is very, very wrong or we have a case! Do we have a case! We have a case, don't we?! Oh, I'm so excited! So what are we-" As much as he loved to see Dirk happy, he cut him off.

"No, we don't have a case."

"Oh no! What's wrong? Something has to be wrong then. Did you have an episode? Wait no, as bad as those are they're normal for you. You wouldn't tell me to meet you in person _after_ you had an episode. It has to be REALY bad then. Is it Blackwing?!" He began to panic like Todd was just before he had shown up. "Is someone dead?! Who died? Oh no!"

"No! Everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something, in person."

"Oh thank goodness, you had me worried for a second." He sighed in relief, his hand over his heart. "So what's so important that it has to be talked about in person?"

"Umm... uh... fuck this is hard."

"Oh for Christ's sake, spit it out, Todd!"

"I LIKE YOU!" He said quickly, eyes squinted, bracing himself for rejection.

"Aw... Todd, I like you too, you're an amazing friend, but I already knew that."

Todd mentally face-palmed at Dirk's innocence. "No, Dirk, I _like_ you... as more than friends, romantically."

Dirk stood stunned, eyes wide, heart leaping out of his chest, cheeks cherry red. "Todd, I... I-"

"Crap, I went and fucked everything up. I'll just go, I get if you don't want to be around me anymore." He began to walk away. That's it. In two minutes he had managed to fuck up his entire life. There he went, the best thing that ever happened to him. He wanted to bang his head on a wall, good thing they decided to do this outside. How could he be so stupid? How could he listen to his sister? What did she know? It was his life, not hers. That's the last time he ever listens to her. It hit him then, he would go back to being depressed and miserable all day. Shit, he had to find a new job!

"No!" Dirk jogged after him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I-I... I like you too, as more than friends, romantically."

He turned around to see Dirk wearing the biggest, Dirk-y-est smile he had ever seen. His sparkling blue-grey eyes filled with tears of joy. He suddenly hugged Todd and wouldn't let go.

"You do?" Todd said, muffled because his face was tightly buried in Dirk's shoulder. He could feel Dirk nod.

"Yes. Most definitely." He let go to look in Todd's eyes.

"You sure? When I say I like you, I mean I _really, really_ like you. Not just- you know- attraction and shit... I mean-I mean, honestly, I don't know what the fuck this is because I've never felt like this before.” He did know, he didn’t want to say it quite yet, he was afraid it was too much. “And _that's_ what I mean when I say that I _really, really_ like you. My feelings are fucking intense and-Dirk you deserve so much better than me. You're fucking perfect Dirk! Me? I mean... I'm an _asshole_! I was an ass to you for a long time."

"You know I hate it when you call yourself an arsehole!" Todd smiled and hid his face as he bit his lip. "You're the first person who actually cared about me, and I _fell_ for you because of it. And I fell _hard._ I was so scared to tell you because I was worried I'd lose you. I can't lose you again, Todd." He internally swooned at what Dirk had just said. He said the same words to him that he said to Amanda about Dirk only a few hours ago.

That's it. He couldn't contain himself anymore. Just so, _SO_ happy to hear Dirk say he liked him back. So happy to look in his eyes as if he were seeing him for the first time. So happy that the weight was lifted off of his shoulders.

And for some stupid reason-he wasn't usually a romantic-he wanted their first kiss to be something wonderful, magical, and memorable. Like something out of a romance book, but screw it. He couldn't hold himself back anymore, _this_ was memorable.

He grabbed Dirk's tie and quickly raised his hand to his neck to guide him down to his lips and kissed him. Dirk's eyes widened in shock but then fluttered closed as he put one hand on his lower back and the other went up to his cheek to pull Todd closer until there was no space left. It was perfect. A year, a year and it finally happened. Months and months of fantasizing on both their parts had finally come to fruition. They were finally together. And it was breathtaking. Electric even. With each fast and loud heartbeat they could feel as they pressed into each other's chest, a spark was exchanged on their lips. Reminding them that it was real, but they still felt like they would float away at any moment if the other wasn't holding them tight and to Earth. They leaned into each other like their lives depended on it. All of their worries floated away leaving only them. Only this perfect moment, this perfect kiss.

As Todd pulled away, much to both of their dismay, Dirk squeaked in delight, bouncing up and down slightly with a goofy grin. Todd chucked looking at his adorable-ness.

"Todd, you have no idea how long I have waited for that." He said still squealing. _God, Dirk is so cute_. Todd thought. "Wait..." He was so caught up in the moment he didn't really think about it. "I thought you were straight. I mean, I'm gay but I didn't-"

"Bi, and you don't have to tell me, it's very obvious." He laughed.

"Is it?" He sunk a little.

"Oh, definitely. But it doesn't matter, what matters is I like _you_ , Dirk. You and all of your craziness. I live for our adventures. I wake up happier in the morning now that you're in my life. And now, that I've told you, I'll wake up even happier because I can actually act on how I feel." Hearing this made Dirk's heart melt. And it turned to liquid, even more, when Todd pulled him in again.

Dirk squealed like a fangirl at the touch of Todd's lips on his, causing Todd to smile into him and laugh slightly.

"Are you going to do that every time I kiss you?"

Dirk just smirked and said slyly, "Well... you'll have to keep kissing me to find out."

"Dirk Gently, are you flirting with me?"

" _Maaay-be.._." he was still bouncing.

Todd just smiled and pulled Dirk in again. He couldn't get enough of him. He liked his best friend and his best friend liked him and they both knew.

And so, for a moment, everything was right in the universe. Everything fit, it was... holistic.


	2. Kiss and Tell

"Amanda?! Amanda, guess what?! I just got back to my flat and you'll never guess what happened." Dirk had just come in and locked the door. He couldn't wait, he had to tell EVERYONE the good news.

"I think I know..."

"Todd said he likes me!" He giggled, he hasn't been able to stop smiling all day.

"Yep."

"How did you know?!" He gasped.

"I was the one who told him to tell you." She was trying not to laugh at Dirk's giddiness.

"I can't thank you enough! But that's not all..." he said in a sing-songy voice, still holding back his squeals.

"What else? Did he kiss you or something?" She rolled her eyes.

"HE KISSED ME!" Dirk flopped backward on his bed as he sighed dramatically.

"How did I know?"

"It was perfect. Perfect I'm telling you!"

"I'm sure." She was thoroughly amused.

He suddenly remembered, "OH! I have to tell Farah!"

"Uh-huh, you go do that."

"Ok! Talk to you later!"

"Bye, Dirk." She laughed as he squealed when he hung up.

Todd just got back to his apartment to see Amanda laughing her ass off.

"What's so funny?" He said.

"Dirk _really_ likes you," she continued laughing.

"He does?" He smiled.

"No shit, Sherlock. What did you do to that boy? How could _anyone_ like you that much."

He gave her the finger playfully, "Fuck you, Watson."

"Did you ruin your friendship? You didn't, I told you that you wouldn't."

"I wouldn't say that just yet." He frowned.

"Stop worrying so much, Todd! He's clearly obsessed with you!"  
"Well, he should be." He said sarcastically and Amanda laughed.

"He said you kissed him..." She said in a sing-songy voice.

"Damn it, Dirk." He sat down on the couch next to her. "We're adults, Amanda!"

"Oh, you're adults?" She hid a smile, trying so hard not to laugh.

"We're adults!"

"How was it?"

"Perfect. Dirk is perfect. He's the best man I've ever met."

* * *

The phone rung, waiting for Farah to pick up. Dirk laid on his stomach and kicked his legs back and forth like a teen girl in a movie.

"Hello? Dirk?" He jumped up when he heard Farah's voice from the other side and squealed as loud as he could. At this point, all of the neighbors knew about his new relationship. "Dirk, are you ok?!"

"I am _more_ than ok! I am perfect! I am thrilled! I am elated! I am any word that means happy but then multiply it by one million!"

"It happened, didn't it?" She smiled.

"What happened?" He stopped.

"You and Todd, it happened?" Farah chuckled.

"YES!!! How did you know?!" His eyes widened, how did everyone know?

"It's very obvious you two like each other. So when I heard you squeal like a 12-year-old and say you were on Cloud 9, I assumed he asked you out or something."

"Wait a second... he didn't ask me out! Did he actually mean it when he said he liked me? Why didn't he ask me out? Is he just messing with me? I mean... he did kiss me but-"

"He kissed you?!" Even Farah began to feel Dirk's giddiness.

"He did! Ugh, it was amazing! He kissed me 3 times!"

"3 times? Damn. No wonder you're excited! I'm so happy for you! He _is_ an amazing kisser... sorry is that weird?"

"Right? I mean I haven't kissed anyone else before so I can't really judge properly. But regardless, it was wonderful," He sighed in content.

"This was your first kiss, Dirk?" Her face lit up.

"Yeah, I was in Blackwing all my life. All alone, except for Mona, she was the only one that could escape her room and see me. But you know, gay. And the past 16 years have been a wild ride of loneliness... I haven't had time for the dating thing."

"Didn't really think about that."

"Yeah..." It all started to come back to him, he didn't want to think about that right now. He didn't want to think about it ever again. "BUT HE KISSED ME!" He continued squealing.

"Ok, walk me through it. What happened?" Farah seemed to be the only one of his friends he could talk to, other than Todd, but you can't really talk to Todd about Todd.

"Well, he texted me saying 'Hey, Dirk, meet me at the agency in an hour, I need to talk to you about something important.' And I was like, 'Ok' and he was like-"

"I don't need the entire day told to me."

"Right, anyway I was all worried that something _bad_ happened, but why wait an hour? So I assumed maybe we had a case." He was full-on Dirk rambling at the speed of light at this point. "And when I left I didn't see you there so my case theory was mostly out the window... But it was just Todd, and he looked nice. I mean _really_ nice. He was wearing his 'cool guy jacket'," he tried using what he imagined to be a "cool guy" American accent, but he decided that he couldn't do accents which caused Farah to laugh. "And let's be honest, he has _nothing_ on my jackets," They both laughed at that much true statement. "But I do have a soft spot for jackets. And seeing him in a jacket always makes me happy, It's stupid-jackets are a thing for everybody-but I like to think that when he wears that jacket he's thinking of me."

" _Awww_! That's adorable."

"So anyway he was wearing that and a pair of red jeans and a grey t-shirt. He looked great in them... _Anyway_ , then he told me he liked me," His voice picked up speed and was almost indecipherable. "And then I was stunned and he thought I didn't like him and got upset and I ran after him and told him I did like him and then we got all feelings-y and then he GRABBED MY TIE and _KISSED_ me!" He paused for a moment only to begin spitting words out again. "And then we got all feelings-y again and then he kissed me _again_ and then I said something flirty and then kissed me _AGAIN_ and it was amazing!"

"Woah slow down there." Farah chuckled.

"Sorry, I'm just a little excited."

"I can tell. I just can't express how happy I am for you."

"Thanks, are you absolutely sure this isn't weird for you?"

"Nah, we both decided we were better as friends. I could tell you liked each other, you just have a spark, you know? It's something really special and I can't exactly put my finger on it."

"You really think so?"

"Oh, absolutely."

"You know what I should do, Farah? I should ask _HIM_ out!"

"I think you should."

"Ok! I'm going to go do that now!" He hung up without notice in his excitement. He opened his message app and began to text him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this chapter has no plot relevance, it's just cute.  
> And wouldn't Dirk SO do this?


	3. Madness

Dirk couldn't stop smiling for the past day and a half. It was finally time for their first date and to say they were both nervous was an understatement.

Todd was worried about everything. What if he said something wrong? What if after the date Dirk decides not to date him? What if he had an episode?

Dirk had all the same questions running through his head except for one _VERY_ important one... what jacket should he wear? 

His collection was massive. Some might have said he has a problem. But everyone has a guilty collection of something... right? Snow globes, postcards, shoes... Jackets couldn't be that different.

After he escaped he needed something to give him an identity. In that cold facility, the only thing he had to him was his name, and they didn't even use that. He was a guinea pig, he didn't matter. He was another empty face to discover the mysteries of. He needed something that was his. Something that when people hear his name they would think, "Oh! That's the ___ guy!".

So one day, strolling down the streets he saw it. A lemon-yellow leather jacket in the window of the store. He knew then, that was his thing. He was "jacket guy". And over the past 16 years, he had built up quite the collection.

17 jackets. 17! Every single one unique with a few matching ties to it. So now was the time to answer the all-important question, what jacket will he wear?

After much arguing with himself, a lot of it, he finally settled on the Jacket that started it all, the yellow one. His first jacket and the one he wore when he met Todd. Now, not only was it special because it was his first, but it was the symbol of their romance.

Todd had a surprise for Dirk, one that mirrored his reasoning for the yellow jacket. Yellow, the color that started it all. He wanted to get Dirk flowers, he knew that kind of sappy stuff makes him happy. So why not a bouquet of yellow roses? He got them after Dirk asked him out last night. A beautiful mix of roses and baby's breath. It was perfect, he would love them.

And it was as if Dirk read Todd's mind. Flowers! That was what you get someone your dating if he could remember correctly. He wanted to get him some black flowers so he decided to go on a walk before heading over the short distance of one floor to see Todd. Nice to get some fresh air and calm his nerves. And while on that walk, thinking about the flowers, he saw a cute little florist's boutique on a street corner.

"Why thank you, universe!" He said as he walked into the shop.

"Hello, welcome! How can I help you today?" A smiling young woman greeted him from behind the counter. Dirk was very indecisive, maybe it was best to have her help.

"Hello! I'm looking for some sort of flowers for my boyfriend," Should he call him that? Todd would definitely punch him in the arm for that, or would he? Whatever it didn't matter. "I don't know a lot about flowers, I just know I want to get black ones."

" _Awww_! Well, you've come to the right place." The woman quickly emerged from the counter and started to grab a few different types of flowers from around the room. There were these weird black cup-shaped ones with little antennas coming out of the center, weird green bulbs on branches, some small white puffy... butterfly-shaped ones? Then finally some large black cabbage shaped flowers.

"White orchid, black lily, and black mums. He'll love it." She handed him the beautifully arranged collection of flowers.

"Mums? Someone must have _really_ loved their mum to name a flower after her... But then why wouldn't they just name it their mum's name? Wait... this is America, why aren't they called M-ah-ms?" He emphasized the American pronunciation which caused the florist to laugh.

"No one really knows why flowers are called what they are." She walked back to the counter, "I'll ring you up."

Dirk's eyes widened at seeing the price of the flowers on the register. "Bloody hell, decapitated plants are expensive." He handed her the money, "Todd will love them though." A smiled grew as he thought about him.

As he exited the store he waved goodbye and thanked the nice lady who helped him.

* * *

Todd heard a knock at the door. Dirk! He grabbed the roses from the kitchen counter and opened the door to see Dirk proudly holding his black bouquet. He had the same idea.

"Flowers? _Awww_ , Todd, they're amazing!" Dirk leaned down to give him a quick peck, which Todd turned into something slightly longer.

"I thought you would like them, you seemed like the type to like sappy romantic gestures... and judging by the bouquet in your hands you are. Here, yellow, like the jacket you wore-"

Dirk cut him off to finish the sentence in unison, "when I first met you." He smiled, "I wore it today. Thought it was perfect for our first date."

"And _black lilies_ , _black_ , Dirk, you’re adorable. Thank you,” He jumped up, put his arms around Dirk's neck, and hugged him, giving him a short kiss on the cheek as he pulled away.

"I guess I'm turning you into a soft, sappy, romantic too." There was a slightly playful tone in his voice making fun of Todd.

"Hey! They're black. I'm not soft!" He blushed, showing his newfound softness.

"Sure..." he rolled his eyes. "Shall we?" Todd walked out, grabbing Dirk's hand which made both of them smile.

And while walking down the hall of the complex, the lights began to flicker, one by one as they passed them.

"Odd." Dirk shrugged.

"Do you think it means something Mr. Detective?" He turned his head to look at him.

"No, at least I don't think so. The universe tends to be a bit bigger in its 'clues'. Let's just ignore it for tonight, I want to spend time with my wonderful..." he paused, should he? "My wonderful boyfriend."

"Thank you, Dirk." He leaned his head up against his shoulder.

"Tonight is about us." He looked long-fully in Todd's big, beautiful, blue eyes and smiled softly. "The universe can wait."

"I've been waiting for tonight for forever. Time for the universe to wait," He chuckled.

"God, you're so beautiful," Dirk muttered under his breath.

" _Hmm_?" He hummed, "Did you say something? I saw your lips move but I didn't hear anything."

He just smiled and let go of Todd's hand to cup his face in his hands, "I said, 'God, you're so beautiful.'" Dirk moved their faces so close, they could feel each other's breath on their mouths until the distance was closed. It started slow, Todd's hands on Dirk's waist.

In the short amount of time, they spent together yesterday Todd taught Dirk everything he needed to know that he missed out on at Blackwing and on the run. And damn, in that time Dirk learned how to push _all_ of Todd's buttons. Everything he liked. Everything he wanted. He wouldn't lie, Dirk wasn't the best, in the beginning, however, everyone is like that at first. But he was a fast learner.

And so there, standing in the middle of the hall, what started out as a simple, soft kiss, grew and grew. Leaning into each other more and more with each heartbeat. A push and pull, it became harder, more passionate.

Todd took a few steps back, guiding Dirk along with him to a wall. Todd seemed so tough on the outside, but Dirk knew the truth, he melted at any affection from him. He liked to let go for a bit and be reminded he wasn't an arsehole, that he was worthy of love.

So pressing him against the wall, Dirk did just that. He reminded him that he was worthy. That he wasn't an arse. That he had people who cared about him more than anything in the world.

"Mm... Dirk?" He gasped.

He needed to regain his breath a bit, he said softly, "Yes, darling?"

"As much as I love this," Dirk smiled, he had done his job. "We have a date to go on still."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that for a second."

Todd laughed, "You're adorable."

* * *

"So where are we going?"

"Suprise."

It was a small ice cream parlor that also served diner food. "Ice cream? Really, Dirk?"

"What?" He whined, "Ice cream is good! And their burgers are fantastic." It was cute. A nice small, cozy place to have a first date.

"Mary!" Dirk greeted the hostess of the restaurant.

"Dirk!" She smiled. "Is this Todd? You're right, he is cute!"

"You know the hostess?!" Todd smiled internally, Dirk had told people about him.

"The owner," He corrected. "Mary and I go way back. This was one of the first restaurants I came to when Patrick Spring hired me."

"Yep! So, your first date. Exciting! I've got a table for you over here." She guided them to a small table for two. "I'll take it you'll have the usual, Dirk? I'll come back in a minute so Todd can decide."

"No, I'll have what he's having." He looked back at Dirk, "What are you having?"

"Bacon Cheeseburger and Iced Tea. You know, when I first heard about Iced Tea it sounded like absolute _blasphemy_ to me but I actually rather enjoy it." 

"That actually sounds really good, I'll have that."

"Ok! I'll be back with that soon."

Dirk was right, the burgers there were fantastic. They spent a good hour just talking about... anything really. Just letting the conversation take them wherever. After dinner, they got ice cream. Dirk got the most obscene chocolate mess, chocolate upon chocolate upon chocolate. Todd just got chocolate raspberry.

After paying and thanking Mary they headed back to the Jeep, it was dark already. _7:45?! Geez_!

Todd was driving this time. Dirk wasn't exactly the best, scratch that, he was the worst at driving. Todd only let him drive because he wasn't allowed to know where they were going.

They talked for a few minutes in the car and then, Todd asked Dirk a-in his mind-very important question.

"Dirk? Have you ever heard of Muse?"

"No, I don't think I have, what is it? Those are the Greek ladies, right?" Todd burst out laughing. Sure he didn't know a band, and that was understandable but he still-for whatever reason-found his reply very funny.

"It's a British alternative band. You would like it."

"British? I do like the sound of that." He smiled.

_I, I can't get these memories out of my mind_   
_And some kind of madness has started to evolve_

Everything they had been through the past year, it was definitely mad, to say the least. All of it was forever burned in their minds.

_I, I tried so hard to let you go_   
_But some kind of madness is swallowing me whole, yeah_   
_I have finally seen the light_   
_And I have finally realized_   
_What you mean_

They had both struggled for so long to come to terms with their feelings. But at last, they could show each other how much they meant to them.   
They sat silent, just taking in the music. Todd had heard it all before but Dirk was intently listening to every word.

_And now I have finally seen the end (Finally seen the end)_

When they were dying, bleeding out on the floor of the laboratory. When he was back at Blackwing. When he was staring down the barrel of Ken's gun. When Todd was about to be executed in Wendimoore.

_And I'm not expecting you to care (Expecting you to care)_

Yesterday. Before then they both thought they would lose each other if they ever admitted their feelings.

_But I have finally seen the light (Finally seen the light)_   
_I have finally realized (Realized)_   
_I need to love_   
_I need to love_

The lead singer's voice in those last two lines made him realize something.

_Come to me,_   
_Trust in your dream_   
_Come on and rescue me_

Todd looked over at Dirk, he was getting it. Dirk rescued him, he rescued Dirk, they rescued each other.

_Yes I have known, I can be wrong_   
_Maybe I'm too headstrong_

Was Dirk... crying?

_Our love is_   
_Madness_

Dirk knew why Todd made him listen to the song. It was them. It was everything they went through, it was how Todd felt about him.

"Dirk?" Todd's concerned voice brought him back to earth. They were back at the Ridgely, parked, and he didn't even realize it.

"Todd... this is us."

"Yeah..?"

"This is our song now." Todd had always considered it to be since he realized his feelings.

"Yeah, I guess it is. So... you like Muse?"

"Definitely," He smiled nervously. "Todd?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." He paused. "Wait, is it too fast? I'm sorry, it's just, I'm not lying, I do. I do love you. You know what? I don't care. I don't care if it's too fast because I do. I've known you for a year, and I feel like I've known you for a lifetime. I've known my feelings for at least 10 of those months and I fell in love with you, so no. It's not too fast. At least for me, I don't care if you don't say it back but I want you to know it."

He blinked at him, he said it first so why should he hold back? Because he was worried himself he has gone too far to quick. But Dirk said it, not Todd. It was safe. "I love you too. I always have." He grabbed Dirk's tie and kissed him passionately.

* * *

As they walked back in the flickering from earlier returned. A chill went through the halls. It was quiet. Too quiet. They didn't like it.

Suddenly they heard a blood-curdling scream. They stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment, nodded, and ran towards the sound.

They pinpointed the origin to an apartment on Todd's floor. He pounded on the door. "It's Todd! Is everything ok?!"

An old woman opened the door with a drained, white face. She tried to speak but couldn't, she pointed inside to say "it's in there".

What they saw truly shocked them. Every single piece of furniture floated two feet off the ground and a cryptic message was burnt into the back wall saying "help".

"Todd?"

"Dirk."

They stared at each other, this was the moment they have been waiting for. And in perfect unison they said; "We have a case."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, An actually relevant chapter to the plot! (Except for one very, very, important, very, very, tiny detail in chapter 1...)(comment if you found it)


	4. Who You Gonna Call?

"So what happened?" Todd and Mrs. Davidson sat down on the now settled furniture after Dirk _insisted_ on making sure they weren't Mona. She wasn't even there and doesn't play tricks like that. 

"I'm the detective, Todd! I ask the questions." Dirk emerged from the kitchen with two cups of tea for the woman and himself. "So, what happened?" Todd just rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, dear." She grabbed the tea from Dirk, still shaking, and leaned over to Todd to whisper, "I like this one. He's a lot nicer than your other partners."

"Why _thank you_ , Mrs. Davidson! Someone appreciates me."

"We literally just told each other 'I love you' five minutes ago! I appreciate you!"

"And yet you don't appreciate that I'm the detective and you're the assis-boyfriend." He sat down next to Todd, kissing him on the forehead.

"And he's a detective? You did good with this one. He has his life sorted out while you play the guitar all day."

"I will have you know that Todd is the best guitar player in the world! I would know, I know the world, and I found him."

" _Aww_ , Dirk!" He leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "But I do have my life sorted out. He, Farah, and I co-own our agency."

"Well, that's good to hear." She said with a condescending voice. For a senior who accepted his and Dirk's relationship she sure was quite the old biddy.

"See! We can all get along!" Dirk couldn't sense the sarcasm of the last statement. "So... back to the case. What happened before we showed up?"

"Well, it started a little after 6. I noticed the lights started flickering, but they were flickering where I went. Instead of all flickering, they flickered where I stood." Todd and Dirk's eyes widened.

"We noticed that too! We had just left for our date! I knew it!"

"You told me the universe worked bigger than that, and that it could wait."

"Well, it did wait."   
"It couldn't have waited a _little_ longer?" He whispered in Dirk's ear and then spoke up. Thanks, universe."

"Why do you keep talking about the universe?" Mrs. Davidson was thoroughly confused.

"Well, you see, I'm a _holistic_ detective. I don't work with pesky clues or stuff like that. I solve cases through the interconnected-ness of the universe." She stared at Dirk.

"Basically he doesn't have a plan, he doesn't have any idea what he's doing, where he's going, the universe kinda just hands him stuff on a silver platter."

"I take back what I said, he sounds a little..." She rotated her fingers around her head. "You know."

"You literally just saw your furniture floating and you're telling me he's crazy? He's not crazy. You'll see."

"You thought I was mental at first. Although to be fair there wasn't any mad supernatural stuff like this for a while, that quickly changed after you saw Lydia come out of Rapunzel."

"Sure..." Mrs. Davidson said. "Anyway, things started to fall off counters every once and a while, electronics would turn on and off. And then finally the message was burnt into the wall, I don't think I saw what did it. And then the furniture started floating and you showed up."

"Todd, you know what I think this is?" Dirk turned to face him with a big goofy smirk. "GHOSTS!"

"Ghosts?" Todd laughed.

"I've always wanted to be a ghostbuster, well always since I saw the movie a few months ago. I like to think I'd be rather good at it."

"Ghosts aren't real, Dirk."

"But we've met energy vampires and witches. Who's to say that ghosts don't exist?"  
Todd facepalmed at Dirk's comment. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this one. "The witches were from Wendimoore and the Rowdy 3..." He paused. "Actually I can't explain that one."

Dirk jumped up and began dancing. " _Duh-duh-dah-duh-da-na!_ Who you gonna call?!" Todd chuckled at Dirk's adorable-ness. "See, Todd?" He bent down and grabbed his hands to make him join in the dancing. "There are things we still can't explain, it's ghosts! And we're the ghostbusters!"

"Ghosts? You have to be pulling my leg." Mrs. Davidson scoffed.

"Well until we have a better explanation, I guess ghosts is what we're going with," Todd said, still holding onto Dirk.

"Ghosts! This is going to be fun! Wait till we tell Farah! And Amanda! Oh, and Tina and Hobbs will have fun with this one. We're getting the gang back together!" He spun Todd around.

"Well, Amanda leaves tomorrow and Bergsburg is far."]

"Nonsense! Farah goes to visit them all the time!"

"Well, that's because she's dating Tina."

"Well if she's dating Tina she has a better excuse to help us!"

"But they need to have someone at the station."

"Why are you so clinical, Todd?" He gave Todd a quick peck.

"I don't know, it's just... every time we have a case it's like we almost die!"

"I can assure you the only death in this case will be of the ghosts who are already dead." He stroked Todd's cheek with his thumb assuringly.

"Hello?!" They turned quickly to face the old woman. "My apartment his haunted! How is this supposed to comfort _me!_ "

"We'll do our best to make sure you stay out of this in case there is any threat of imamate doom."

"Do you hear yourself?!" She threw her hands in the air.

"Yes." They both said.

"It's kinda normal for us at this point," Todd added.

"We'll need to find a medium! But other than that I think that's it for our first meeting. Normally we have to put all of our energy into cases for the fate of the world and such but this seems to be something we can pace out a bit." Dirk handed Mrs. Davidson a card from inside his jacket. "Call us if anything else strange happens. Or just go get Todd."

"Oh-ok, uh, thank you." She was thoroughly confused.

"That will be it for now! Goodbye, thank you for taking the time to talk to us." Dirk said as he got up and walked to the door.

"Wait?! How much am I going to be paying you for this?"

"It's free!" Dirk replied gleefully.

"Dirk, we need to have some sort of income."

"Right, we'll work it out later."

"Oh-ok. Goodbye." She said, still confused.

"Have a goodnight, Mrs. Davidson." Todd waved as he and Dirk left closing the door behind them.

"Well, she seemed lovely." Dirk smiled. "WE HAVE A CASE, TODD!" He started dancing down the hall towards Todd's apartment.

"We have a case!" He followed.

"Can we watch Ghostbusters again?" Dirk smiled.

"That sounds great." Todd laughed.

They spent the rest of the night like that, cuddled on the couch, wrapped in a blanket they shared watching the movie. Ok, watching some of the movie...

"Hey, Todd! How was your-" Amanda came back into the apartment to see Todd sitting on Dirk's lap, arms wrapped around his neck in a deep kiss.

"Amanda!" Todd turned around and yelled at his sister. She just laughed. "Knock first, damn it!"

"Oh hello, Amanda!" Dirk waved cheerfully. She laughed even louder.


	5. The Beast Below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very confusing... but very important.  
> I need you to promise no matter how weird or stupid it seems, that you will read it if you are invested in the plot of the main storyline because, say it with me, EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.
> 
> And yes, the chapter title is a Doctor Who reference.

Annie stood in a line with nine other girls beside her, facing an odd-looking young woman who looked as if she were from another century. Dressed in all black with a mid-length ruffled hobble skirt and a laced bodice. The only modern thing about her was her luxurious raven waves with victory rolls atop her head.

"As you know, the government has ordered twenty children to be randomly selected and put in a house divided into two. This is your side. You will be living here for as long as the experiment continues. I am headmistress Lillian Black, you do as I say and follow the rules. Understood?" Her ghostly pale face stared at them, black lips pursed. Waiting for them to show some sign of understanding.

They all nodded in fear. "Good. The rules are as follows," She walked back and forth, lightly slapping a ruler in her hand to warn them. "Number one. Curfew is at 7 pm sharp. I expect you to all be in your hammocks in the attic by then. There will be no leaving your room under any circumstances. Number two. This is your side of the mansion. There is no way to the other side except through that door," She pointed towards a dark wooden door that resembles that of a medieval castle. "The door will remain locked at all times, only I and the headmaster on the other side will be able to cross. Number three. There is no leaving the house. No going outside. Number four. You will follow the schedule, no skipping classes or meals. And lastly, number five." She stopped pacing in emphasis. "Don't go to the basement. Never go to the basement. Don't think about it, don't look at it. No matter what you hear, what you see, you may not enter the basement." She looked at them, staring into their souls, a chill went through the room. "Those who break the rules... will be _punished_. Am I clear?"

They nodded again. Her emphasis on the word, punished, struck terror into the hearts of all of them. None of them wanted to know what she meant. "Perfect. Follow me." She started towards a grand staircase. The house was old, it felt ancient, though Annie knew it couldn't be. It looked relatively modern, maybe built 30, 40 or so years ago at the turn of the century. The silent house echoed with each click of Headmistress Black's heels on the dark wooden floor. All was dim, only slightly illuminating the hundreds of vague pictures on the paneled walls.

Everything in them looked familiar, but she couldn't tell what any of it was. Distant, eerie. Looking at them made her head hurt, made her dizzy, made her... tired, drained. She quickly diverted her eyes for she felt that if she didn't she would surely pass out.

They continued walking, up the stairs, through dark winding halls that went on forever. Annie could feel a hot breath on her neck, her hairs stood on end, something was reaching out to grab her. She swiftly turned around to see nothing behind her except for the others, but she knew it wasn't one of them. It was something different. Something, bad. As she turned back around she saw a figure in the corner of her eye, but when she blank it was gone.

The headmistress pulled on a string that pulled down a ladder and climbed up, looking at the children to tell them they should do the same. One by one they ascended the ladder, to an unfinished attic. Decrepit wooden beams supporting the slanted ceiling, ten hammocks scattered about, a chest for each. The chipping old floor creaked with each step taken, a single circular window at the front, facing the driveway to the house.

"You will be sleeping here for the rest of your time here." Headmistress Black stated. "You each have a single chest for your belongings. You will stay here until supper when the bell rings at 6:00 sharp. You will come directly back here when finished. Any questions?"

A small girl, about 7, with short brown hair, timidly raised her hand. The headmistress nodded in approval of her request to ask a question. "This is a mansion, there are lots of rooms, why do we sleep up here?"

The question infuriated Headmistress Black, she stared at the girl, fire in her eyes. She grabbed her by the ear and yelled, "YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE THIS ROOM UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE!" Tears welled up in the girl's small, hazel eyes. The Headmistress let go, not because of guilt, not because the girl was crying, but because she was done with her point. "There are things you do not understand, things you will never understand, everything is done for a reason. Everything has a purpose even if you do not understand. Everything is connected." She turned around about to leave when she said, "That is all for now." The attic door closed, leaving only small, flickering candlelight.

When they were sure she was gone, most of them huddled around the girl, who was the youngest out of all of them, to make sure she was ok. Annie heard chattering as the young girl sobbed. "Hey..." she tried to get their attention, failing, "HEY!" They all faced her and the young girl sniffled. "Can't you see she's upset? Gathering around her won't help. Let's all just step back, give her space, she will talk if she wants."

"She's right you know." An older girl said. They all turned around, wondering how they failed to notice her. She was unpacking her carpetbag into her chest, she continued talking. "This is all very wild. I think we should just take a minute to introduce ourselves. Who knows how long it's going to be before we see our families again. We have to stick together. Plus I have a really bad feeling about this place." They all nodded, the feeling all too familiar.

"Ok, I'll go first." She said. "My name is Ruth. You next." She pointed towards Annie.

"Annie."

"Peggy," The crying girl said.

And it continued in a circle, name after name until it came back to Ruth when suddenly a bell rang. Like a clock tower. They froze as they heard the familiar clacking of the headmistress' heels down the hall. Then a light came in as the door was pulled down and she came up the ladder.

"Alright children, it is time for dinner. Follow me." She backed down the ladder and they followed one by one, coming back the way they came. Back through the winding halls, back down the stairs, back through the main hall. They came through another hall on the right, doorways to classrooms, library, a parlor, and finally the dining room.

A large room with a fireplace at the back, a long table in the middle. Ornate mirrors of all shapes and sizes lined the wall and grand windows looking outwards on the opposite side. Ten miss-matched chairs lined the table with one at the top for the headmistress. They sat down, the table full of odd-looking forks, knives, and spoons. Handles mangled as if put through a furnace and thrown on the floor, twisted like finger waves. There were black roses and a candelabra in the center of the table, flames tall and... black?

Frost lined the windows, climbing as the room got darker, colder. The girls could see their breath in front of them, the fireplace and candles extinguished suddenly when the handle on a plain door at the front of the room shook. White flesh emerged, long, lanky, hunched. The figure was twitching, like a mad monkey before feeding. Approaching slowly. It looked up sending a chill down Annie's spine.

It tilted its head, an emotionless, but curious, bloody, full of teeth smile looked back at them. White expressionless eyes looked back at her. She would scream, but something stopped her. She couldn't, she was frozen. The creature turned around, relief washed over them only for it to turn around suddenly, this time pulling a cart full of food. Was that food? It approached each of the girls to put down a plate of orange and blue bouncy blocks and strands. Next to it a bowl of purple soup, and a glass of water. The one thing she understood.

"Thank you, Bibbit." The creature grunted in response, turned, and left. Headmistress Black stared at the children waiting for something. "Well... Eat!" They looked at their "food" in disgust. "I SAID EAT!"

In fear, they all reached for what looked to be the safest, the soup.

* * *

Laying in her hammock, Annie struggled to fall asleep, scared of what would befall her if she did. Would that thing, Bibbit get her, would something else? Everything about this place was terrifying. She heard something, something startling, something horrifying.

A roar. Indescribable, nothing like she had heard. Wet, gargling, gurgling, but still strong and sharp. It was as if a lion was being strangled by an octopus if that even made sense. The house shook with the noise and she turned to see one of the Hammocks moving, Ruth.

"Ruth? What are you doing?" She whispered. Ruth walked over to grab a candle off of a beam jetting from the wall. A crack and fizz as she lit a match and with it the candle.

"Oh, I'm sorry Annie I didn't mean to wake you."

"No it's ok, I couldn't sleep anyway. What are you doing?"

"What do you think? Investigating." The word rang in her ears, _investigating_ , she wanted to come too but she was terrified of the headmistress' warning. She didn't want to know what the punishment was.

"You could get in trouble!"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Ruth chuckled.

"First, what if that thing from the dining room ate you?! Don't tell me you didn't notice the blood! Then, what is in that basement? Something bad. She told us to never go to the basement. You shouldn't go to the basement." Her head was whirring with all of the thoughts of what could go wrong. So many things could go wrong.

"Well, I'm going to go find out what that was. You don't have to come if you don't want to. Why else would I try to be quiet? I'm going alone." Somehow that was worse than Annie going with. Still, she wasn't going with. "Ok. See you in the morning. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck." Almost under her breath, she knew something bad was going to happen. She knew it. The door to the attic closed as Ruth ventured into the night to leave the rest of the girls asleep.

As she drifted off, something she would rather not do but she couldn't stay awake any longer, she fell into a strange dream.

All was dark, silent except for _tick, tick, tick, tick._ Like an old clock. It crescendoed until Annie's ears were pounding. _TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK._ She felt something wet dripping from her ears, shaking, she lifted a hand to her neck. She brought it to her face, staring at the red dripping from her fingertips. Looking up she saw ghostly faces staring at her, screaming, flashing in and out of existence. Then it all stopped. She heard a radio buzzing, the static louder than the ticking, making her head feel as if it would explode. She had to wake up. Wake up, Annie! Wake up!

Then she heard a small child's laugh echo through the space. A haunting rhyme followed; "Don't go in the basement..." sung to the tune of Ring around the Rosies "...the rules were very blatant... A death wish, a death wish... Ruth..."

No.

"Falls..."

NO.

"DOWN."

" _AHHHHHHHH_!!!" A blood-curdling scream woke Annie from her nightmare. Forgetting she slept on a hammock she fell on her face, bouncing back up too quickly, her head spun. And if that didn't make her pass out the sight she was about to witness would.

Blood. Everywhere. 3 of the girls lie in their hammocks, dead. Eyes rolled back in their heads, clothes torn to shreds revealing the most likely cause of death. Abdomens ripped open spilling out entrails and blood.

In a state of shock she stood still, other girls panicking. She remembered the events of last night, Ruth. Her eyes bolted around. Ruth would know what to do, but she was gone. She didn't come back. Her hammock was empty.

She heard a sudden crackle and another scream, her eyes jumped to the origin of the sounds. A girl flew into the air, blue lightning surrounding her. She fell to the floor and dropped dead. All were in a panic when the Headmistress appeared out of nowhere.

"What a shame." She sighed, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth as if she expected the events of the morning, not caring. "It is time for breakfast, I'll have this cleaned up."

Hyperventilating, Annie raised her hand, she needed an answer. "Where is Ruth?"

"She..." the woman paused, thinking of the best way to explain it without raising suspicion. As if they weren't suspicious already. "She didn't follow the rules. Follow me."

* * *

Annie and the girls spent the rest of the day shaking. Would they be next? By the time it was curfew and they sat in the attic they hadn't said anything all day to each other or the headmistress.

A teen girl by the name of Carol was the first to speak. "I-I... I think we sh-should talk about what happened this morning."

"We probably should. There are only five of us left." Someone named Shirley added.

"Did anyone else have nightmares?" Peggy asked. Shockingly, they all nodded.

"Yeah... I was in this void, and my ears started bleeding. And a girl said not to go into the basement. Said something about Ruth." Carol said. Everyone's eyes lit up.

"I had the same dream," Annie said as everyone nodded.

"Ok... this is weird." A younger girl named Evelyn added.

"You haven't noticed?" Carol threw her arms out, eyes wide.

Suddenly a chill went through the room, the front window frosted like when Bibbit first appeared. All the candles went out with a gust of wind leaving everything dark except for a blue light that shone through the cracks in the wall.

Terrified, the girls backed up slowly. A transparent, blue, electric-looking, floating little girl dressed in a frilly dress burst through the wall.   
" _AHHHH_!" They all screamed.

"NO! It's ok! I'm here to help." She said.

"Y-y-you're a-a ghost!" Shirley choked in fear.

"I'm aware." She rolled her eyes. "Well not exactly, you see- actually never mind, there isn't time for that! Listen! This is very important. I was here before you. I didn't make it out. The experiment doesn't end until everyone is dead." The word rang in Annie's ears. _Dead_. She didn't want to die! Why was this happening? She didn't deserve it!

"What is this experiment even for?" Carol struggled to talk.

"I don't know. No one knows. But I'm here to help you plan an escape."

* * *

The plan was simple. Well not exactly. All they had to do was wait until the middle of the night and leave. Maybe listening to a little girl wasn't the best idea. They had hoped to be able to find Headmistress Black's room and either knock her out or tie her up but with what seemed to be hundreds of doors in this never-ending nightmare house it felt impossible. They still had to try.

Grabbing a few candles and making their way down the ladder they left to enact their plan. Creeping through the never-ending hallways they felt as if they were being watched. A feeling not too far fetched.

Annie heard that terrifying roar again. That wet, gurgly, deep sound. It caused all of them to jump. Peggy was about to scream when Annie leaped in front of her to cover her mouth.

"Shhh! You have to be quiet!" She whispered and Peggy nodded.

They continued through the halls, the flickering flame of the candles enlarging their shadows on the dark, rotting walls. Weary each step, keeping a lookout for the wandering eyes they felt on their backs. Listening for any sound other than them.

Then they heard something breathing heavily. "Hey, is that one of you?" Carol asked.

"I don't thi-" Shirley was cut off.

"Shirley?!" Annie turned around to see a dark, shadowy hand reach around her face and pull her into the darkness, her candle dropped and was snuffed out. It took everything in their might to not scream in that moment. They knew exactly what this meant.

They had to get out. Now. They had to run, run as fast as they could. Hoping, praying that the headmistress wouldn't find them. It didn't matter if they were heard, she knew they had left the attic. It was life or death now.

Running through the halls, through the darkness. Running as fast as their legs could carry them. " _HELP ME_!!!" They heard Evelyn scream. She too, pulled away by the mysterious creature, never to be seen again.

" _AHHHHHH_!!!" This time it was Carol taken.

Peggy reached for Annie's hand. "I don't want to die!" She cried. They were so close. They could see the bottom of the stairs, they could see the door. It was just insight. They would be the first survivors of the experiment.

"It will be ok," she huffed. "There's the door!"

But when she looked back at the stairs she saw the worst thing imaginable. Headmistress Black waiting for them. No.

"I see you thought you could escape." She laughed. "You're mistaken."

"What happened to the others?" Annie demanded, ushering Peggy behind her.

"Same thing that happened to Ruth, the same thing that happened to the others, the same thing that is about to happen to you." Her eyes like daggers, staring at them mincingly. Annie backed up slowly and began to turn around to run. She would find another way out. Just then more creatures like the one from the dining room emerged and grabbed them. 4 of them.

"LET ME GO! Why are you doing this?!" Annie screamed as she tried to wriggle her way out of their restraint, it was no use.

"We're testing a new weapon. With it we can defeat Axis." the headmistress said.

"I'm all for winning the war but aren't we just as bad as them if we're killing innocent children?" Annie cried.

"It's for the greater good sweetheart. Bring them to it." She commanded the creatures.

As they walked towards the basement door, Annie shuddered at the thought of what awaited. What this new superweapon was. The headmistress unlocked the door and shoved them down a ramp that led to the basement floor, quickly locking the door behind them.

"Let me OUT!" She screamed, but it was hopeless. This was it. This was the end.

Their fate was sealed by the monstrosity that stood before them. A large, slimy creature. A giant pink worm covered rows of deadly spikes. It's face opened like a flower to reveal thousands of sharp teeth.

The last thing they ever heard was that terrifying, gurgling roar.


	6. The Tower

"Dude! You're telling me we've got ghosts?" Tina put her hands to her head making an explosion noise. Hobbs agreed to let her come up and help with the case, but he wasn't able to make it.

"Well, we think they're ghosts. We're not sure. It's just what we're going with for now." Todd corrected her.

"Dirk, why haven't you taken us here before?! The burgers are amazing!" Farah said. They were back at Mary's.

"Well... I may have blurted to Mary about my fancying of Todd so I couldn't really take you here until that happened." He leaned back in his booth in embarrassment.

"Wait... 'fancying' is British for liking someone right?" Tina looked around in approval for her question but was instead met with blank stares stating "obviously". "Until that happened..." she muttered under her breath while the rest of the group patiently waited for her to catch up. "WAIT?! You and Todd are together?!" She once again put her hands to her head and made an explosion noise.

Farah rubbed her back and said, "I told you about that already, sweetie."

"I must have been high..." They nodded, already expecting that to be the answer. "Congrats dudes! I knew it from the beginning. I told Farah I thought you two had something."

"You also didn't notice us holding hands or us sitting closer together?" Todd asked.

"I may or may not be a bit high right now..."

"You really are the _worst_ police officer." Dirk laughed.

"What?! It's legal here! I've gotta fill my quota." They all laughed, even Tina.

"Right... so back to the case." Dirk changed the subject. "We need to find a medium."

"You seriously don't believe in that junk?" Todd turned to face his boyfriend.

"Who's to say mediums aren't like me? What if they've built up a stigma around themselves so that Blackwing all thinks it's a whole bunch of rubbish and leaves them alone."

"That's like... genius," Tina said. "Wait! I dabble in witchcraft." They all looked at her like a Witchacookoo. "No! Not like that Suzie bullshit. Like tarot and crystals. Neo-paganism."

" _Uh-huh_ ," Todd looked at her confused and Farrah shared his look. Dirk just looked excited.

"That's so cool! I've always wanted to learn more about that. Well, always since I found out about it... Just now." Dirk bounced.

"Have I ever told you how adorable you are?" Todd smiled at him.

"Many times." Todd was about to kiss him but Dirk obliviously turned back to the group in his excitement. "So what does this have to do with the case?"

"Witches talk to ghosts sometimes. I can totally help with this one!" They all doubted Tina's necromancy abilities but if it meant not having to pay someone, they were willing to try it.

"Ok... so what do we need to do? Get an Ouija board?" Todd asked and was met with an immediate response.

"NO! No Ouija! That's like... geez how do I put this, BAD. Like, put a snowman in hell bad, take Zeus and put him under Suzie's love spell times 10 bad, put the Joker in the Bat Cave with a flamethrower, chainsaw, and a _motherfucking dinosaur_ bad."

"Definitely not that then. That sounds bloody horrifying." Dirk's mouth hung open. "Who's the Joker?" He added suddenly.

"DUDE! We've got to catch you UP!" Tina was out of her seat, leaning over the table and shaking Dirk by the shoulders until Farah quickly pulled her back down.

"Tina, focus," Farah looked her in the eyes and Tina gave a single, strong nod. "What do we need to do?"

"Right! I need a black candle, my cards, my pendulum, and some incense."

"That's it?" Todd seemed surprised.

"Yep. For now at least."

After they had finished with their food Mary returned with ice cream for them. Dirk clapped like a kid in a candy store, which he practically was. "Thank you, Mary."

"Only the best for my favorite customer! Now customer _S_."

" _Awww_! Only the best for my favorite restaurant!" He tilted his head with his signature Dirk smile.

"You two are like an old married couple." Farah laughed. Obviously a joke, but still the comment was met with an auditable " _Ewww!_ " from both of them.

Dirk grabbed Todd very quickly and possessively like a child with their favorite toy and brushed his hair lovingly with his fingers as he wrapped himself around him. "Todd is mine and will forever be mine!" He gave Todd a kiss on the head which in response Todd turned back and gave Dirk an actual kiss.

"Now there's some sickening-ly sweet couple-y shit." Tina pointed at them with her ice cream spoon. "We can be sweet, too!" She turned to Farah and gave her a kiss.

Dirk threw both of his arms all the way up in the air, hands in fists as if shouting _GOAL! "_ And everyone was gay!" Farah and Todd laughed.

" _Whoo!_ Rainbows!" Tina reached across the table to give Dirk a high-five.

Across the restaurant, by the kitchen barstools, they heard a man laugh and jokingly gag. Almost too quiet to hear, but Mary heard enough.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!" She yelled and ran over to him.

"But I haven't ordered yet."

"YOU HEARD ME. I DON'T CARE. GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT." She angrily pointed to the door.

"Can I speak to the manager? I'd like to see them leave." He responded.

"Oh, did you not see the name of the restaurant?" She pointed to the logo on the menu. "Did you not see my name tag? I'm the owner! So, I'll ask, no, I'll _tell_ you again. Get the _FUCK_ out of my restaurant!"

"Fine. I don't want to eat at a crazy person's restaurant anyway." He sulked out the door.

"Sorry about that." She walked over to the group who was all staring at her in awe.

It took a moment but Dirk finally broke the silence. "And that is why this is my favorite restaurant."

* * *

They all headed to Mrs. Davidson's apartment after grabbing Tina's stuff. She seemed very proud of herself that she was helping.

"Hey, Mrs. Davidson, it's Todd and Dirk... and a few other people." Todd knocked on the door. "Is now a good time?"

She opened the door and smiled. "Oh yes, now is fine. The sooner it's gone the better. Dirk actually called me so we could work out the payment. He let me know you were on your way." ]

"Oh, _She-it!_ " Tina said looking at the back wall, the word "help" still burnt in.

"Oh yes, this is Tina. She'll be helping us talk to the ghost today." Dirk said cheerfully.

"Y-yes, that's lovely." She seemed taken back by... well everything about Tina. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Nah, we're Gucci. Thanks, Mrs. D." Tina waved dismissively. Farah just facepalmed.

" _Sure_..." She walked into the kitchen leaving the four of them in the living room.

Tina sat down on the floor in front of a coffee table. "Come on. Sit down. Wherever... doesn't matter. Maybe not on the furniture though... just in case." Todd and Dirk sat on the left side of the table and Farah sat next to Tina who proceeded to light some candles and incense. Some really interesting incense, not pleasant. Dirk coughed dramatically and waved his hand in front of his face. Todd gave him a stink eye.

"Spirit in this apartment! I am communicating with you and you only. I have some tarot cards with me. Please manipulate the cards and answer my questions. We're here to help you." The candle flames grew taller and slowed their flickering. "Ok. First question. Who are you?" She shuffled the cards and one fell out. When she turned it over her face drained.

"That can't be right. It can't." She put it back in and shuffled the cards again a few times.

"What's wrong?" Farah put her hand on Tina's thigh.

"It's- It's nothing. Probably messed up. Or they're just joking with me." She looked up and yelled. "HEY! I don't like this joke. Please just answer the questions." She shuffled again and a card fell out. She turned it over again, shaking. "Shit man, I don't like this." She shook her head.

"What is it, Tina?" Todd asked.

"It's... The Tower. The worst card you can get. It's an omen of pain, suffering, injustice, and chaos."

"Well, that doesn't sound nice," Dirk said.

"It's just cards," Todd said, trying to reassure her. "Just cards. Cards can't predict anything." She just seemed offended.

"I don't know Todd, twice in a row? And this is a _case_ we're talking about. It all gets weird." Dirk smiled to him emptily. The kind of smiles you give to someone after something truly bad happens.

"I'm doing it again. It can't be The Tower." She shuffled and The Tower fell out, face up this time. "Dude! Stop doing this!" Again, The Tower. Again, The Tower. She actually began to cry a bit. Again, The Tower. It happened another 10 times before she broke down completely. The cards fell out of her hands and splayed everywhere as she threw herself into Farah for comfort. "I don't like this."

"Hey. It's going to be ok." She whispered into her ear as she rubbed her back. "I need you to keep going. Maybe ask another question."

She pulled back, sniffed, and nodded. "Ok." She took a deep breath. "I'm going to do a multiple card spread now. This spread is for what we need to know about the case." She shuffled five times and pulled out three cards and laid them on the table. She grabbed a book that was sitting next to her and began flipping through it. "Ok. First card. What's it about? 8 of swords." She rolled her eyes. "That's not good. Of course, it isn't. Imprisonment, trapped, powerless."

"I don't like the sound of that," Dirk said.

Tina angrily shushed him and began flipping through her book again. "Second card. What are we going to face? 9 of swords. Again, not good. Trauma, betrayal of the mind, something that has happened before is going to happen again. Something that you've run from is coming back."

Dirk mumbled something to himself.

"What did you say?" Todd asked him.

" _Hm?_ Oh, nothing."

"Last card. What is going to happen? Judgment. Well, that's pretty self-explanatory." She laughed, almost as if talking to herself. Her eyes lit up. "OH! It actually means reflections, realizations, reckoning, and awakening. That's interesting." She put the book down and shuffled the cards again. "So let's try that again. Who are you?" A gust of wind ran through the room, enough to push her ratted hair back and blow out the candles. All the lights began to flicker and finally went out.

"It's happening again!" Mrs. Davidson ran in only for her to see the massive, continuous wind through the room. "I see you already know that... ok. I'll be in here." She awkwardly pointed back to the kitchen and shuffled away.

"Oh, _HELL_ yeah!" Tina shouted. A crackle began to be heard and a blue light emerged. Growing from a small dot, it spread outwards with pops of lightning.

" _Bloody_... I think they're back, Todd!" Dirk turned Todd away from the spectacle to shake him by the shoulders.

"What the fuck do you mean?!" He responded. Dirk just pointed behind Todd. What he saw when he turned back around chilled him to his core. "Holy shit..."

A light blue figure of a young girl appeared. Dirk was right, _they were back._ "Screw this. You want to talk to me? Talk to me." She said, her voice echoed slightly.

"Do you... do you see what I see?" Farah turned to face all of them and they nodded.

"I think I solved the case!" Dirk stood up abruptly and began pacing.

"This early?!" Todd followed.   
"Well, it's obvious. Keep up, Todd. It's the Men of the Machine."

"How did you- What the hell is going on?" The ghost said.

"Shit's bout to get real!" Tina responded.

"I _think_ I've got it, but stop me if I have something wrong. Which I never do, but there's a first time for everything." He sat down in one of the chairs. All eyes were on him. "It began in the 80s. 1981 to be exact. The cult had just perfected the soul swapping and were finally ready to swap one of their own into a brand new body. After searching for a while to find a healthy body to last as long as possible, _lots of stalking_ , they found you. One night you were walking down the street when suddenly they came up behind you and knocked you out. You woke up strapped in a chair connected to a strange machine. The soul swapping machine. Everything goes to plan for the first half, your souls were ready to be put into a new body when someone goes horribly, _horribly_ , wrong. Your body was absolutely fine. The cult members?..." He grit his teeth and inhaled. "Not so much. The machine zapped him a little, ok a lot, too hard, and killed his body. So when they switched the chairs, there was no body for your soul to go into. Your body woke up with the cult member's soul inside it... and you? Well... you were floating around in the air. They thought nothing of it. Less work for them!" He clapped, "But you were left hopping from electronic to electronic. Doomed to that fate for the rest of time."

"How did you know all of that?!" She yelled.

"I got it _all_ right?! Again?! I'm getting pretty good at this detective thing." He smiled nonchalantly and gave himself a pat on the back.

"This early?" Todd seemed shocked.

"We're not done. Something... something's missing. This isn't it. This is just the beginning."

"What?"

"Something big is coming." He grabbed Todd's hands and looked at him very, _very_ seriously. "Something that's big, and bad, and I don't know what it is. I don't know why it is. It's like... if I met someone who lost their car keys, I would end up stopping an alien invasion. And it would _still_ be linked to the car keys. If I didn't meet the person who lost their car keys, we would have alien overlords! In other words, what I mean is, this is small. It's leading to something so much more important and I'm not sure how yet." 

"Can someone please-" The ghost's voice snapped them out of it. It was beginning to fade, like a voice on a phone, losing connection. "Shit. This is the longest I've been in the air, I'm loosing-"

Suddenly, out of her control, she shocked Todd. The ghost was gone. He fell to the ground screaming. But the electricity around him had faded. They all knew what this was.

The shock caused him to catch fire. It spread rapidly. Dirk dropped to the ground to hold him. He just held him there on the ground. Held him as tight as he could. "Todd? Todd! What do you see? What is it?"

Todd struggled to get words out over his screaming and writhing in agony. Dirk had caught too. He knew it wasn't real, but it felt so real. "F-f-ff-FIRE!" He sobbed. "Y-you're o-on fire t-tt-t-too."

Farah and Tina rushed over to his side but Dirk shooed them away. He knew Todd. He knew he needed something to focus on, too many people was too much. He didn't need to see more people he loved on fire.

Mrs. Davidson came rushing in. "Is everything alright?!" Todd's screams continued.

"He's having an episode. Everything is fine. He needs space." Farah explained.

"Shit, man! What do I do?" Tina was panicking.

"Pills! Right!" Dirk reached into Todd's hoodie pocket to find nothing. Other pocket? Nothing. His jeans? _FUCK. "_ Ok. Todd, I need you to look at me." He just continued screaming. "I don't have your pills. I don't know where they are. I need you to focus on me. I'm here. What would help?"

"H-Hold me. Just hold me." He cried. The worst of it had passed. It was still bad, still really bad but it was beginning to fade. Focusing on Dirk was helping.

"I've got you. It's ok. I'm here." Dirk rocked him in his arms. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Todd stopped shaking. He went limp. "TODD?!" Dirk frantically checked to see if he was breathing or had a pulse and thank god he did. "It's ok, he's just passed out." It killed Dirk to see Todd in pain. He hated it. More than anything in the world.

For Todd, the pain had faded. But he saw something. Flashes. Of... an old mansion. It flashed to gears turning. Then he heard a voice. "Louis." It changed back to the mansion, this time at an odd door. "Axis" A strange, giant, pink, worm-like monster, with a deadly flower-like mouth of teeth, it's body covered in spikes. "Blackwing" He saw a pale woman with black wavy hair and black lipstick and then saw... Zackariah Webb.

His eyes burst open with a sharp inhalation. Dirk was still holding him, he seemed relieved to see Todd awake again. After a moment to make sure the episode was truly over, Dirk quickly kissed him. Todd felt weak, he didn't want to talk at the moment but he had to tell them.

"Dirk?"

"Yes, love?"

"I just had a vision."


	7. We've Been Lonely, Too Long

"You're joking," Dirk said.

"No, I'm not." Todd sat up.

"So what did you see?" Tina walked closer. She figured it was alright now that Todd was ok.

"Well. For starters... Zackariah Webb."

"Now you're joking." Farah's mouth fell wide open. Well, everyone's really. Except for Tina. Poor thing was clueless.

"He's dead." Dirk tilted his head, then he had a moment of realization. "Wait... you don't mean... It can't possibly be..."

"Maybe."

"Who the fuck is Zackariah Webb?" Tina asked, arms flailing about.

"Patrick Spring," Farah said and Tina gasped in sudden understanding.

"So back to the vision?" Dirk changed the subject, he looked back at Todd who was now sitting next to him, holding his hand.

"Well, there was this mansion. Not Webb Mansion. A different one, one I've never seen. And there was a weird worm monster. And this woman. I heard three words. 'Louis' over the mansion, 'Axis' over the monster and... Dirk? You're not going to like this. This is going to be bad. I need you to promise me you won't freak out."

"You have my word." He crossed his heart.

Todd took a deep breath, "When I saw the woman and Zackariah Webb, the word that was said over it was... 'Blackwing'." The feeling in the room shifted immediately.

" _No_... No, no-no-no-no-no-no-NO."

"Dirk, you promised you wouldn't freak out."

"Well, _that_ was before I knew Blackwing was going to be involved with this." Dirk began crying. "No. This is bad. I _can't_ go back to Blackwing.  
We are _not_ going back to Blackwing. We are staying _far_ away." He began shaking.

"I think the first thing we should do is find the mansion. We aren't going to-" Dirk put a finger over his mouth.

"Don't say it. I don't want to think about it." But it was too late, the thoughts and memories had flooded back all at once. They were inescapable. They had him, imprisoned...

_Imprisoned, Trauma, Reckoning. Something coming back, something bad. Pain, suffering, injustice, and chaos. Well shit._

"T-Tina," He choked out, "You're bloody good at this."

"Good at what?" Her brows furrowed. When she was told she was good at something it was usually sarcastic. Coming from Dirk? She didn't know what to think.

"Tarot. You're bloody good at-" he cut himself off and gave into the sobbing. Todd had only seen him like this once. Back at the sheriff's office. And even then it wasn't like _this_. "No, no, no," He continued. "I have a case! I have an agency! I have a _boyfriend_! And I'm in _love_! I can't go back. They can't take me!"

Farah stood up and walked to the kitchen. "Mrs. Davidson? Can you make Dirk some tea? He's having a panic attack." Mrs. Davidson nodded.

"Panic attack? No. I don't have panic attacks. This isn't a panic attack. I'm... I'm, rambling! That's what I do, I'm rambling. I ramble. That's what I'm doing. Just... rambling. Ramble, ramble, ramble." She was right though. By now he had crossed his legs and held his head down with his hands around his neck. "Yeah, that's it. Rambling." He was rocking himself back and forth.

Dirk felt as if his chest was being crushed under a hydraulic press. Although-to clarify-he didn't actually feel like that, he felt bad for thinking that. Poor Todd or Amanda probably had experienced something like that before. How dare he think such an insensitive thought?! _Stupid, Dirk, stupid!_ The thought buzzed throughout his head but was interrupted by millions of others flying around.

His brain spun on a pottery wheel, the world around him faded. All he could remember was the drowning darkness and loneliness. The pain. The yelling.

Sentences blurred, words faded, even thoughts. Just the pain was left. It was all he could think, all he could remember, all he was. He was nothing. He was a bug waiting to be squashed.

"Dirk?" Todd reached out slowly to him, he had begun hyperventilating. "Dirk." It was his turn to comfort him now. "Look at me, Dirk." He didn't respond.

Todd shuffled over closer and hugged him. _Oh, right, Todd. Toooddd... TODD!_ Something he could grasp onto. Something he could hold, something that was his. A person who was there. A person who wouldn't leave. A person who _cared_ about him, a person who _loved_ him. He wasn't alone. He had Todd. Todd was there. He wasn't gone, he was there.

Dirk fell in, he buried his head into Todd's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around him, digging his fingers into his back, holding on tight, not letting go. "Hey, it's going to be ok. I've got you." Todd stroked his head. "But I need you to take a deep breath and slow down, ok?" Dirk's breathing was still very shaken but with a few short, choked, inhales he was able to exhale slower.

Mrs. Davidson came in with the tea and put it on the table. She remembered how he liked it from last time. "Want some tea?" Todd asked.

Dirk nodded in his shoulder and slowly got up. His eyes were red and glossy, his face was soaked in tears. The heavenly scent of jasmine and chamomile danced through the air in steamy curls. He took a deep breath and a slow sip and sighed in content. It was going to be ok.

* * *

They had decided that tonight they would put the case on hold and get back to it tomorrow. When the world isn't at stake and they aren't in any _immediate_ danger, they had that luxury. After lots of hugs from Tina and Farah, they left leaving Todd and Dirk.

"Todd? Can I stay at your place tonight?" Dirk turned to Todd with puppy dog eyes.

"You don't have to give me that look, I was already going to say yes."

Dirk jumped on him with a giant hug and lots of short kisses. Todd laughed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Todd unlocked the door to his apartment. "Do you want some more tea? I can make some more. We also have that tub of ice cream from Mary's."

"That sounds lovely."

Todd went back to the kitchen and began making some mint tea he thought would pair well with the chocolate ice cream.

He returned from the kitchen with a mug in one hand and a small ice cream tub and two spoons in the other to see Dirk sitting on the couch, staring into nothingness. It killed Todd to see him like this.

He had an idea... one that he would never do for _anyone else_ but Dirk. He put the ice cream back in the freezer and opened his phone to start playing a song. A song he would never let _anyone else_ but Dirk know he liked.

The familiar hi-hat and short guitar pluckings began as he walked over to Dirk slowly.

_It's not your eyes_   
_It's not what you say_   
_It's not your laughter that gives you away_

"What are you doing, Todd?" Dirk looked up. His eyes were once again full of tears.

Todd pursed his lips and reached his hand out, "Dance with me, Dirk."

_You're just lonely_   
_You've been lonely, too long_

"What?" He whispered.

"Dance with me."

_All your actin',_   
_Your thin disguise_   
_All your perfectly delivered lies_

Dirk grabbed his hand and reluctantly got up, grunting.

_They don't fool me_   
_You've been lonely, too long_

Todd very quickly and suddenly pulled him in, causing Dirk to laugh.

_Let me in the wall, you've built around you_   
_We can light a match and burn it down_   
_Let me hold your hand and dance around and 'round the flames_   
_In front of us_   
_Dust to Dust_

They began swaying slowly. Todd's hand was on the small of Dirk's back, Dirk's hand was on Todd's shoulder, their fingers of their other hands intertwined. They danced throughout the room. Todd was good at this.

_You've held your head up_   
_You've fought the fight_   
_You bear the scars_   
_You've done your time_

"Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend? He doesn't dance." They both laughed. It was working.

_Listen to me_   
_You've been lonely, too long_

The last line Todd sung along with, looking deeply into Dirk's eyes. Telling him it would be ok. That he was here now.

His voice was beautiful. Well, he _was_ in a band. Dirk smiled. Why didn't he sing more?

_Let me in the walls, you've built around it_   
_We can light a match and burn them down_

"And he doesn't sing either." Todd just shushed him and they continued swaying along with the music. "Hold on..." Dirk noticed the specific way the guitar sounded. "Todd, is this... country?!"

_And let me hold your hand and dance around and 'round the flames_

"Tell _no one._ This is the _only_ country band I will listen to. It's _gothic_ country..." He replied smugly.

_In front of us_   
_Dust to Dust_

Todd spun Dirk around. Dirk just _had_ to be dramatic and spun all the way out and spun back in. His back to Todd's chest, arms intertwined, swaying in time. They could stay like this forever. Todd's breath on Dirk's neck, reminding him he wasn't alone.

_You're like a mirror, reflecting me_   
_Takes one to know one, so take it from me_

Dirk turned around so they could once again face each other. Both smiling. They had abandoned the traditional "dancing" pose and just held each other, still swaying, no distance between them.

_You've been lonely_

Todd pulled back to look at Dirk while he sang this line again.

_You've been lonely_

Dirk repeated the line back to Todd along with the music.

_Too long_

They sung together in that perfect moment.

_We've been lonely_   
_We've been lonely, too long_

They swung with the music, arms behind each other's necks.

And as the guitar and drums left just like they were in the beginning, they kissed. A soft loving kiss. They melted at each other's touch. It would all be ok. They pulled back, their foreheads resting together.

"Thank you," Dirk whispered as he kissed Todd's forehead.

"Anything for you." He smiled back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a request I received and worked into the plot; "Dirk is upset and Todd dances with him to cheer him up. Like Harry and Hermione but less platonic and more romantic." So here it is, and it turned out adorable!
> 
> And yes, I know Todd would never listen to country but this band, man... Their voices together sounded like falling in love, and the lyrics for this song were too perfect.  
> The song is called "Dust to Dust" by The Civil Wars if you're interested.


	8. Welcome to Ocean Hill

"Todd?" Dirk whispered as he turned around on the couch to face Todd's bed. "Toooooooddddd?"

"Is everything ok, Dirk?" He lazily turned over.

"Can't sleep. My brain is always hyperactive, part of the whole holistic thing. Normally, I can ignore it when I try to go to sleep but with everything that happened today-" Todd cut him off.

"I can already guess what you're going to say." He rolled his eyes.

"Can I? Please?"

Todd smiled. "Of course."

Dirk got up and pumped his fist in victory to which Todd laughed. He lifted up the covers and snuggled up next to Todd, he rested his head on his chest.

Todd played with Dirk's hair and all was silent for a moment before Dirk spoke up, "I have nightmares, bad ones. I'm afraid to sleep most of the time. They all feel so real. And I know it sounds stupid and I know they're just dreams but-"

"They still hurt right?"

"What?"

"It doesn't matter that they're 'just dreams', they still hurt, they still affect you. It's ok. It's not stupid."

"That means a lot."

"And hey," Dirk turned his head up to look at Todd. "You don't need an excuse to cuddle with your boyfriend." Dirk smiled.

"You know that the great thing about us is, Todd?"

"What?"

"We see through each other's bullshit, we can practically read each other's minds-although I wouldn't be surprised at all if we could _actually_ do that at this point-and we're honest with each other."

"I guess that is pretty great."

"Love you, Todd." He kissed Todd's free hand which was intertwined with his.

"Love you too, Dirk." He kissed the top of his head.

And thanks to Todd, he didn't return to Blackwing in his nightmares that night.

Todd woke up to the warm sun shining on his face. He rubbed his face and turned over, "Goo-" but Dirk wasn't there. He panicked for a moment until he heard that delightful, cheery accent.

"Good morning, Todd!" He sat up to see Dirk in the kitchen. Making... something.

"Morning, Dirk." His voice groggy. He got up and stumbled to the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast. I thought I would repay you for helping me so much yesterday. You know what they say about breakfast- do you know what they say? I've always heard people saying _something_ about breakfast, although I'm never quite sure _what_ they're saying... Oh!" He put his hands in the air as if pitching the idea. "Breakfast. The... _oh bloody hell_ , I forgot again. What was I saying? Oh right, anyways I'm making breakfast. Here's some coffee for you," He handed Todd a fresh, steaming, mug of black coffee. "And I'll be done with the pancakes in a bit, I'm almost done with the batter."

"Dirk, do you even know how to make pancakes?" His cooking was... how should he put this? Bad.

"Sure I do! You put the flour, and the milk, and the butter, and the sugar in the bowl, and then you mix it and then you put it in the pan and then you cook them." Todd was too tired for this.

"Can I see the batter?"

Dirk proudly presented a bowl with unmeasured amounts of ingredients and a whole _cold_ stick of butter that was being smashed down to no avail. "I'm having a _bit_ of trouble with the mixing part."

"Let's just go out and get breakfast. I'm texting Farah." He sighed.

* * *

The great bronze plaque on the white wooden walls greeted them. **_Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency,_** _Cases Solved With Arguable Efficiency._

"So, remind me, what did you see in your vision?" Farah sat at her desk, the rest of them behind her staring at the screen.

"I think the best place to start is 'Louis Mansion'. I heard the word spoken over the image of it."

Farah typed into the search bar and some things came up, but not anything worth note. Mansions belonging to Louis, mostly modern ones, older ones looked nothing like Todd's.

"Try to think. What did you see around the mansion?" Dirk said.

"Want some weed? Or acid, or something to maybe jog your memory? Acid would probably be better." Tina asked, digging through her pockets.

" _Ehhh_... Not now," Todd said.

"Cool man." She went back to eating her bagel.

Todd closed his eyes, trying to go back to his memories of the place from his vision. He remembered the monster, and the door, and of course Zackariah Webb. He felt someone creeping up behind him slowly, he tried to ignore it.

"See anything?" Dirk whispered in his ear causing him to jump.

"Dirk! I'm trying to focus here."

"Right, sorry. Continue." He backed off apologetically.

He closed his eyes again, thinking, searching through his mind, trying to connect the dots. There was Zackariah Webb... and he saw someone else too. A woman, black hair, something about her hair was special. _Victory Rolls, must have been the 40s_. Now the house. The door, he remembered it, an old door, Medieval looking. He tried to zoom out. The door was on the inside. He roomed out further. There was the house. He zoomed out even further. A hill, and water, it looked like an ocean.

Try '1940s Louis Mansion, ocean'." Farah typed it in again, scrolling through them when... "THAT'S IT!"

"Good work, Todd!" Dirk turned Todd's head to kiss him in excitement.

"Ok, it looks like this is in Louis _iana_ , wonder why you didn't hear that part," Farah said.

"LOUISIANA?! COOL!" Tina yelled.

"You think everything is cool," Dirk replied.

"So do you." She pointed back at him.

"Touché."

"It says it was built in 1904, and abandoned in 1941. No one knows why, it was left in a hurry though. Local legend says it's haunted by a little girl." Farah turned her chair around to face them.

Dirk gave a large grin. "Definitely something that connects. We're going to Louisiana."

" _WHOOOO!_ " Tina gave everyone a high-five.

* * *

They left the next day. Todd spent the time on the plane introducing Dirk to some of his favorite songs. Tina slept, and Farah read.

The summer Louisiana air was hot and humid. Dirk complained but still refused to take off his jacket.

The ride from the airport to the small shoreline town where the mansion resided was a long one. Ocean Hill, very creative. What was it with these town names in cases?

The town was very quaint. Bigger than Bergsberg but not quite like Springsburrough. There were nice boardwalks and beaches, it seemed to be bustling with activity, but still felt depressed.

"You know we don't get a lot of tourists here in Ocean Hill. What ya here for?" The taxi driver asked them.

"Well, we're private detectives here on a case. A very interesting one in fact." Dirk responded.

"You're all the way from England?!" He replied, shocked.

"Well, I am, the rest of us are from Seattle... and Bergsberg." Tina waved. "I moved here after a case up there to stay with my bo-" Todd put his hand over Dirk's mouth.

"Best friend, Todd. That's me." The driver stopped, they were at their motel.

"Well, good luck on your case!" They thanked him and left.

As he drove of Dirk turned to Todd. "What the bloody hell was that for?!" His face fire red and eyes wide.

"Remember the guy at Mary's?" Dirk nodded. "Well in America, the further south you go, the more dangerous and more common the people like that get."

His face suddenly turned softer, "I knew people were bad about that sometimes but usually you aren't in danger in the U.K."

"America fuckin' SUCKS!" Tina said.

* * *

After they unpacked they headed to the mansion atop the hill. It could be seen everywhere they went. They made sure the motel was within walking distance. The long winding driveway to the house lead to a wrought iron gate with an odd symbol on it. A box with an upright triangle divided in half in the center, with lines in the corners. The gate then swung open eerily.

"This is it, the mansion from the vision." Farah through and continued forward to the mansion.

It was old, dark, decrepit. You could definitely see the French architecture, Todd wondered why he couldn't see it was Louisiana before. It towered high above them, seeming to be endless.

"I guess it is." Todd continued walking forward, Dirk grabbed his hand and Todd smiled.

"This is weird, man." Tina shook her head, worried.

"It is rather odd _feeling_ ," Dirk added.

Farah opened the door and what awaited inside was, to say the least, _not_ what they were expecting.


	9. Project Oneiroi

It had been a slow 8 months at Blackwing. After Dirk took project Moloch through the portal they haven't found anyone else. Even Dirk was a dead end. At least they had Bart.

Oh, who were they kidding? It sucked! There was nothing to do with Project Marzana. She just killed people, she didn't have physic powers or suck energy or transform. No testing, nothing fun. She just sat there all day and did nothing. They knew how she worked, nothing was up in the air. Well, they didn't really understand _how_ she worked, but they needed Project Icarus for that, they were linked somehow.

What they did have were the scissors. At first, that was interesting, but like everything around here... it was a dead end. There was so much testing. So, so much.

What they did know? It was metal like, it had a high melting point, almost to the point of it being indestructible, it had a remarkably high tensile and compressive strength, they knew its atomic weight... that's it.

"The greatest discovery in human history" was completely and utterly useless and a disappointment.

Ken visited Bart every day. She still hated him, she kept reminding him she should have killed him when she had the chance. But they still talked. Despite everything, they still felt like friends. Somehow. It was strange.

He walked down the halls on the way to visit her. People walked by, gloomy-looking. They all hated this place. It was cruel, it was only interesting if you were someone high up such as Ken. And it was only interesting when they had people there. To say the least, they were bored. Very bored.

"Open the door," Ken spoke with an emotionless voice and an expressionless face.

A large man with a gun grunted then nodded and he proceeded to open the door to Project Marzana's room.

He looked into the large, bright, empty room and the door closed behind him. "Hello, Ken," Bart said from her bed. She didn't get up to greet him. She didn't even move.

"Hello, Bart." He sat down at one of the chairs at the table.

"What are you here for?" Her voice was still it's same old raspy self despite all of the crying.

"I visit you every day."

"It's tomorrow already? She sighed as she got up and stumbled to the table.

"How have you been?"

"Terrible." She sat down. "You?"

"I'm fine."

"Anyone else in yet?" She fidgeted with her fingers, slumped back in her chair.

"No. It's really slow. Really boring." They both laughed like old friends who knew each other for a lifetime.

"I still wish I had killed you, you know."

Ken pursed his lips and looked down, "I know. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Bart."

"It doesn't. You can't capture us, you can't contain us. I'm only here because I deserve it." She waited for him to console her, tell her she didn't, tell her she was wrong, tell her she was a good person. But he said nothing, proving her point.

I'm doing this for the greater good." He looked in her eyes. "You're dangerous. Dirk is dangerous, the Rowdy 3 are dangerous. All the other projects out there are dangerous. They are a threat to the balance."

"No, Ken, they are the balance, I'm the balance. You didn't have to hurt so many people. You think you're the good guy, you're the bad guy. I've killed _thousands_ of people! And I'm still a better person. Not a good person, but better than you."

Ken stood up, "Goodbye, Bart, see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Ken."

He walked out the door and back to his office. Everything she said swirling through his head. Was he the bad guy? No. He wasn't. Ken slumped down in his office chair with a sigh. " _AHHH!_ " He grunted and pounded his fist on his desk when Assistent walked in the door.

"Adams?" Ken jumped.

"What is it, Assistent?" He rolled his eyes, still looking at his desk. "I don't have time for this."

"You have to see this." Ken looked up to see Assistent's smile.

"Oh my god. Did something happen?" He nodded to which Ken returned the smile. "Something finally happened?!"

"And it's weird." He giddily added.

"And it's weird? God, you have no idea how much I needed to hear this today."

"Follow me!" He got up and left his office, and for the first time in months, everyone he passed on his way smiled. For the first time in months, he smiled back. For the first time in months, they had a job, they had a purpose.

They went into a room covered in computers, full of people in lab coats bustling around, writing things down, smiling. "Adams!" They all clapped at his entrance.

"You're going to love this." One man said and he pointed to one of the screens.

Ken bent down, his hand on the back of the man's chair. "Oh my god. You weren't kidding. This is something." He gave the man a pat on the back and stood up. He faced the rest of the group. "Good work everyone!" They all applauded as he left the room. The lights felt brighter, he felt lighter, the air seemed cleaner, he could see clearer.

Bart shuddered in her room, "Oh no," she paced around. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. Something bad was going to happen. The universe felt off-balance again.

Ken danced around in his office. The message displayed on the screen forever burned into his mind. Nothing there had happened in over 80 years.

" _New activity in sector 18-C. New data from Project Oneiroi._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super short chapter, I honestly didn't know what else to say here. If you have any suggestions on how to lengthen it I would gladly take them.


	10. The House

"Holy shit, dude." Tina stared wide-eyed at their discovery upon unlocking the door.

The floor was ripped open from below by an odd, giant, pink, horn covered, worm-like monster. Todd's jaw dropped. "That's the monster from my vision! Except then it was a lot less-"

"Dead. It appears to be very much dead." Dirk cut him off.

"If it's dead then why is it standing straight up?" Farah added.

"Rigor Mortis?" Todd turned to her.

"It would have fallen and then frozen." She corrected him.

"Five-out-of-eight dead-ish. Proceed with caution!" Tina ignored Dirk's warning and ran straight towards it. Farah ran after her yelling for her to stop as Todd and Dirk stood watching the chaos unfold. "Well then... I guess we're throwing caution to the wind. Shall we?" They followed inside, careful with each step to avoid the already broken floor caving in any more.

Tina attempted to climb its horns like a rock wall but failed miserably, thankfully not falling through the floor. "I'M OK!" She jumped back up. Farah just shook her head.

"How are you two together? You're so different." Todd knelt down by Farah who was examining the monster, who at this point they confirmed was-in fact-dead.

"I could say the same for you two." She pointed at Dirk. "He's so bright and pure and you're so... everything opposite... very, you."

Dirk held his hand to his chest, offended. "I will have you know that Todd is precious, he is perfect in every way. The other day when I had my panic attack he-"

"I SAID TELL NO ONE." Todd practically jumped on him.

"Ok, now I have to know!" Farah gave him a fierce, questioning look.

"No. Nope. Never." He started walking to the other side of the monster to avoid the conversation.

"What? Are you afraid to have everyone know how soft you are?" Dirk appeared out of nowhere. He wrapped his arms around Todd, leaning on his back, his head chin resting on his shoulder.

"Todd Brotzman, god of mid-2000s Seattle alt... soft? No." Tina laughed.

"Thank you, Tina."

"But you are! You're so sweet and perfect, you only let me see it though." Dirk kissed his head.

"And I'd like to keep it that way." He turned around to give Dirk a quick kiss before his eyes popped out of his head and he slapped his hands over his mouth.

"HA! So you admit it!" Dirk pointed at him.

"No! I never said anything."

"There's no going back, Todd. You have to tell us now." Farah crossed her arms.

"So... we got back and-"

"No, Dirk! We have a case to solve anyway. Let's go back to that."

"Fine." Dirk pouted.

They walked back over to the monster to examine it, when Dirk all of a sudden asked, "If this place was abandoned in the 40s, then why isn't this monster decaying. It looks like it just died."

"It could have died recently." Tina shrugged.

"No, it couldn't have. It would have died soon after it was abandoned, no food. This thing isn't dead, it was never alive to begin with." He slowly approached the monster, half scared to test his theory in fear of being wrong. He knocked on the side of its pink slimy body to discover it wasn't slimy at all, just glossy, and it wasn't a body at all. _Clang, clang_. It was metal.

"Nice work, Dirk!" Farah said.

Todd walked around trying to find something they could maybe open it with when he saw a lead pipe from underneath the floor, _perfect_. He ran towards the monster and began hitting it, denting the metal with a loud bang each time, causing the rest of them to jump. It finally opened to reveal a complex organization of "Gears?" Todd said. "Don't you think gears are a little strange for a machine like this?"

"Not for the time period, no." Farah walked over to where he stood, Dirk and Tina in toe.

"I say we move on, we've got a whole mansion to search. Todd and I will go this way and you and Tina can go that way." Dirk said.

"Split up? Dude, that's like the number one thing you're not supposed to do in horror movies." Tina objected.

"Well this isn't a horror movie, is it? And we have our phones." He replied. "We'll meet back here."

"Ok. Good luck!" Farah responded before heading to the right with Tina before Dirk and Todd went left.

"You just wanted to be alone with me, didn't you?" Todd looked up at Dirk.

"Is that a crime?" He leant down to kiss Todd.

"Never." He smiled.

They continued walking down the winding halls, holding hands of course. With each step the floor creaked and dust flew around them. Cobwebs in door frames, burns and stains on the walls. The most interesting thing about this place was the pictures. Framed images of things that felt familiar, like something out of a dream, but things they had never seen or knew the purpose of. And with each glance at them, a wave of dizziness and pain dashed across their heads.

"This place is odd, very odd." Dirk turned to Todd.

"It i- _AAHHH_!" The floor collapsed right from underneath Todd.

"Todd?! TODD?!" Dirk dropped to the ground, his voice shook. He put his hand in the hole where his love once stood. "GRAB MY HAND! TODD?!"

* * *

Farah and Tina walked through the maze of halls, examining every little detail. Every crack in the wall, every stain, every... burn?

"Tina, this wall is burnt." Farah gently touched the wall.

"Weird."

"That's it? Weird? It looks like it's been shot or something, but not like a bullet." She moved her face closer to the wall. "See? It's darkest point is here," She pointed to the center. "And it expands outward, jagged looking."

"And that means...?"

"If this were any other burn, like from a fire, first of all, it would be much bigger, and secondly, it wouldn't have this shape. It looks almost like- what was that?" She turned around at the sound of a small crackle.

* * *

Todd fell through a hole, a hole in the floor. But despite that, he was back in the foyer, except with no monster. He heard trumpets.

_And now the company jumps, when he plays reveille_   
_He's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B_

And static, blaring static. Almost deafening. He knew immediately where he was. But how was that possible? He ran around, trying to find a phone.

"TODD?! ANSWER ME! Oh screw it, I'm going in." And before Dirk could jump down he heard an old-fashioned ringing. He turned around to see a phone that wasn't there before. He picked it up. "Hello? Who is this? How are you calling this place?"

"DIRK! It's me!"

"Todd?"

"You'll never guess where I am."

"Where?-Oh my god, the phone, the hole... But how?" His face turned white.

"I was wondering the same thing! This is crazy."

"The other one was made by Francis, how the bloody hell does a house in Louisiana have one?!"

"I know, right?!" He laughed excitedly.

* * *

The crackle grew and grew, a blue lightning bolt emerged from nowhere and shot the wall right behind Farah and Tina. They ran into one of the rooms and slammed the door behind them.

"I guess that explains that." Tina panted.

"I guess so."

They were so focused on, well, not dying, that they failed to notice the contents of the room when they first came in.

"Oh, this is uncomfy." Tina walked away from the door slowly into the room.

"Uh-huh." Farah followed.

It was a plain white room, white tile floors, white walls, white except for the dried blood. A counter leading to what looked to be an observation room was on one side, the window was blown out and the glass scattered on the floor. A single flipped over cot sat in the corner, a teddy bear sitting beside it. An IV pole with an empty bag still hanging on it was next to it. A miniature straight jacket that had been torn and stained laid at Tina and Farah's feet. A few pictures that seemed to be drawn by a child were scattered throughout the room.

Tina bent down to pick up a picture and turned it over, she almost cried knowing that something horrible happened to this kid.

Farah walked around the room, when she saw something in the observation room. A panel with a familiar plug and two metal orbs.

They heard the crackle again, Tina was about to grab Farah and run again but Farah stopped her. "I know what this is. It's ok."

A blue orb appeared and expanded, Tina gave an auditable " _OH_...". It appeared to be a little girl.

"Sorry I almost zapped you, I'm not good at controlling it." She said.

"It's ok. I'm Farah, this is Tina, I'm sorry your soul was separated by the cult." _How far did the damn Men of The Machine reach?_ She thought.

"Cult? Headmistress Black was mean, but I wouldn't say she was in a cult."

"Did you say Black?"

* * *

"Ok, what do you see?" Dirk asked.

"Well it looks just like this house, except new, and the monster in the foyer is gone. There isn't anything too strange this time."

"Ok, what about what you hear? Other than the static of course."

"It's playing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and... wait. That door wasn't there in the real house. I'm going in."

"Be careful, darling!"

"Of course." He opened the door to see a small room with a small table in the center with a note sealed with wax. On the other side, there was another door, with a clock on it. An open clock, gears in the front, and an ornate blue pattern in the back. A strange symbol was in between the glowing blue numbers, and a different strange symbol, the same one from the front gate, was carved in the door below.

"There's a note on a table."

"Read it!" He jumped excitedly.

"Ok, ok, it says 'Hello'... oh my god..."

"'Hello, oh my god'? That's it?" He frowned in disappointment.

"No, no! It says 'Hello, Dirk, Farah, and Todd, and the other girl, I'm sorry I forgot your name.-"

"Bloody hell!" He nearly fainted.

Todd continued. "'When you're reading this you haven't come to meet me yet. I've designed another series of puzzles for you.' Signed, ZW."

"Well, we've better get Farah and Tina. Stay there!" He said and abruptly hung up in excitement.

"Dirk? Dirk? Oh, he did it again." Todd laughed.

* * *

"Yes, Headmistress Black. What about her?" The ghost said innocently.

"My name is Farah _Black_. You said she did this to you? I'm related to... Well... actually I'm not surprised at this point with my family." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, Black is a common name." Tina tried to reassure her girlfriend.

"I guess." Farah's phone dinged with a text. "It's from Dirk, he says they've found something!" She turned back to the ghost, "I'm really sorry, We have to go, we'll talk to you later though. What's you're name?"

"Esther." She smiled and then disappeared in a flash.

Dirk hadn't made it far down the halls so it was easy to find him. But Todd wasn't there. "Where the fuck is Todd?" Tina asked.

"In a _pocket dimension!_ " He smiled.

"What? And that's a good thing?" Farah said with a worried tone.

"Remember the Cardena's house in Bergsberg?" Dirk almost yelled in excitement. "Everything is connected!"

"Yes, we know. What does that have to do with the Cardena's?" Farah rolled her eyes.

"The pocket dimension in the house! There's one here!"

Tina put her hands to her head and made an explosion noise.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Let's go!" He motioned his arm to say "come on" and jumped in the hole.

"That man is crazy." Farah shook her head and followed.

" _WHOOO!!!!_ " Tina followed Farah.

When Tina and Farah arrived they looked up to see the hole was gone. And looked around to see Dirk was nowhere to be seen.

"Dude! This is so cool!" Tina hugged Farah jumping up and down.

"Dirk? Todd?" Farah called out and then saw a door that wasn't there in the real house, it was open. "Oh, there you- You seriously can't keep off each other for 2 minutes?!"

Dirk and Todd were kissing passionately in celebration of their reunion. Dirk looked over, "What?! I thought I lost him! I mean, he _did_ call me almost immediately, but for the 20 seconds I thought he was gone, it was still scary!"

" _Awww!_ You guys are adorable!" Tina said. "Why can't we be more like them?" She frowned.

"Because I don't do PDA."

"It's not PDA if it's just our friend group." She grabbed Farah's jacket and pulled her in for a deep kiss which she melted into, despite her previous statement. "I mean... for fucks sakes we had an orgie! And you won't kiss me in public?"

"That was under a spell, and none of us remember it." She stroked Tina's cheek.

"Actually, Bart rememberers it," Dirk butted in. "But I don't think she really even knew what was going on."

"Oh god no." Farah facepalmed.

"Anyway..." Todd changed the subject. "There's this note. It says he's set up a series of puzzles for us."

"He?" Farah and Tina said at the same time.

"Zackariah Webb." Todd and Dirk also said at the same time.

"I really hope it's not like the last one." Dirk laughed nervously. "I don't want to die. I told him to make them less killy!"

"Let's just get this over with." Todd went up to the door and turned the handle. It wouldn't budge. "Ok, we must be missing something, like a key."

The door behind them slammed shut, "I don't like this!" Tina yelled.

There was a whirring, and then the walls began to slowly close in. "Oh no, not again!" Dirk sighed.

"Think! What happened last time?" Farah said.

"Last time we had the lightbulb, and it became a doorknob, but the doorknob is here. And judging by the note, Zackariah Webb already knows we made it through, and that we don't have the everbulb." Todd explained.

" _Awww_ , you called it the everbulb! See! I have good ideas!" Dirk hugged him.

"I love you but focus! And who said you didn't?" Todd pushed him off.

" _Last time_..." Dirk paced around. "Three questions one answer? Try turning the clock to 3:05!" Todd turned the hands, but the walls only sped up.

"Nice work, Todd! Now we're going to die!" Tina screamed.

"The symbols between the numbers! They're all in different directions! Make them all point one direction." Farah pointed out.

He moved them, the walls stopped moving. But the door was still locked, the walls starting moving faster. They were almost out of time! _OH!_ How could Todd be so dumb, the second hand. Move it to 12! 

The door opened just in time and they ran through. "God, I hate that man," Dirk mumbled.

"HEY, he was a great man!" Farah yelled at him.

"I'm sure he was but the only times he's ever interacted with us we almost died so..." Todd added and Dirk shrugged.

"Umm... guys?" Tina pointed ahead of them. The head of a maze awaited them.

"Holy shit, he seriously built a maze for us?" Said Todd.

"It looks like it." Dirk started walking through, dragging Todd along, Farah and Tina trailed behind.

After a good few minutes of nothing in the maze, they realized that this was probably just a normal maze. The circumstances that they were traveling under, however, weren't. Dirk knew where he was going, it must have been his holistic-ness. They never made a wrong turn once and were soon out to see another door.

"Ok, that one was easy, so now I'm terrified to see what the next one will be." Said Tina.

They opened the door to see a familiar-looking machine on the opposite end of the room. A time machine.

"We did it! Let's go-" Dirk started moving forward when Todd extended his arm over his chest to stop him.

"The maze was too easy, this looks too easy, this isn't going to be easy." He said.

Farah took off her shoe and then one of her socks and threw it into the room, it burst into flames causing Dirk to yelp and jump back.

"That was almost me, Todd!" He held tightly on to him, his arms practically immobilized Todd. "I almost died, Todd!"

"There must be some sort of sensor system, or..." Farah stopped to think for a moment when Tina yelled:

"LASERS! Classic spy movie cliché, _love it!_ "

"We need something to see them," Todd added. "None of us wear makeup, well, you do," he pointed at Tina, "But you don't seem like the type to carry it around with you."

"Yeah, nope."

"Well what are we going to do?" Dirk slowly let go of Todd.

"Zackariah knew us..." Todd said. "He knew Farah the best out of all of us. And the note said he already met Tina cause' he doesn't know about the existence of Amanda... He wouldn't put us in a room we couldn't escape. There has to be something around here."

"I've got an idea." Farah pulled a large, folded knife out of her pocket. She turned around and went back to the maze. Confused, they followed her. "I went and bought this knife after we landed, I didn't want to buy a whole new gun I would have to leave when we went back. But I didn't want to do a case without a weapon." She took Tina's cap off her head. And held it to one of the walls.

"What are you doing?" Todd squinted.

"These walls are unfinished drywall." She began scraping the sharp edge of her knife against the wall causing a thin powder to fall into the hat. "We can scrape off a layer, collect it, and use the powder to see the lasers."

"Farah, you are a genius." Dirk patted her on the back.

After she had collected enough they turned back to the room. Farah took a small amount of powder in her hand and blew it into the room.

It worked! The powder didn't go far, but it revealed a few lasers pointing down from the ceiling.

The floor was tiled, the lasers covered every few tiles making a winding series of deadly walls they could shimmy through.

Single file, they side-stepped through the new maze, blowing more of the drywall as they went until finally, they were at the time machine.

"We did it!... For real this time." Dirk shouted.

Farah bent down to read the date on the machine. "March 3rd, 1941. Looks like we're headed to the 40s."

"Wait... you mean to tell me... we're going back in _time!_ " Tina squealed.

"Yep." Said Todd.

"How are you not freaking out?! This is so cool!" She shook him.

"We've already done it, remember?" Dirk added.

"You guys are like... so cool." She said quietly.

"Put your hands on the machine, Dirk? Will you do the honors?" Todd instructed.

"With pleasure." After they were all in position, Dirk turned the handle, and they were off.


	11. 1941

When they arrived in 1941, they weren't in the pocket dimension anymore, they were back in the real house. Everything looked brand new. The peeling wood paneling now shiny and new. The floor in one piece. The double staircase freshly waxed and the chandelier above twinkling.

"Oh my god! This is so cool!" Tina jumped around when they heard a clicking, but it was too late to hide, a woman was right behind them.

But to their surprise, she didn't say anything. And to their surprise, even more, she walked right through them. Literally.

"What the hell?" Todd muttered. "Wait, that was the woman from my vision!" Farrah followed the woman, trying to keep up and look at her face. When she stood in front of her the woman passed right through to reveal Farah's shocked face.

Tina ran to her and hugged her, Farah's face remained unchanged. "What's wrong, baby?" Tina asked.

It took a moment for her to reply, "That's my great aunt. Lillian Black."

"Pardon my question but... she's white." Dirk pointed out.

"Her sister, my grandma, fell in love with a black man and moved to Seattle to marry. Lillian was always badass, she was..." Her mouth still wide open. "She never told me about this place, and she most certainly wouldn't kill little girls, she was always kind."

"Kill little girls?" Todd asked.

Tina responded, still holding still shocked Farah, "We met another ghost, she said that 'Headmistress Black' was the one who separated her. You texted us before we could ask more questions."

They all stood still, not knowing what to say. But a sudden scream, followed by many more, pulled their attention.

The woman turned around and began walking up the stairs. They followed her. Followed her up the stairs, through the halls, and followed her when she pulled down a ladder from the ceiling. Intrigued, they followed up the ladder to see the horror that awaited.

Blood, everywhere. Splattered on the cracked, aging walls, splattered on the floors, splattered on the hammocks, and splattered on the girls unlucky enough to be close to the 3 girls who lie dead. Cause of death? Abdomens ripped open, entrails spilling out.

"I'm gonna puke!" Tina backed down the ladder.

Another scream came, one girl flew into the air, surrounded by blue lightning as she screamed until she fell to the floor, dead.

Todd felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, his eyes glued to the scene in front of him, visibly shaken by the last death.

"Where the hell did that lightning come from?!" He said.

"Lightning?" Dirk responded.

"That girl! You didn't see the lightning?! She flew up in the air and was electrocuted!"

"There wasn't any lightning, Todd," Farah said, her brows furrowed. "She just dropped dead for no reason."

"What a shame." Lillian Black sighed, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth as if she expected the events of the morning, not caring. "It is time for breakfast, I'll have this cleaned up."

Hyperventilating, a girl about 13 raised her hand, "Where is Ruth?"

"She..." the woman paused, thinking of the best way to explain it without raising suspicion. As if they weren't suspicious already. "She didn't follow the rules. Follow me."

They all backed down the ladder, leaving the bloodbath behind.

"I don't like the sound of that." Farah choked back tears. They followed the group back down. Tina noticed Farah's disposition and grabbed her hand, Farah forced a fake smile and leaned her head on Tina's shoulder.

In the strange dining hall, a strange long, lanky, humanoid, creature with white skin, expressionless, milky eyes, and a shark's mouth of bloody teeth emerged with a cart full of odd foodstuffs.

"Thank you, Bibbit." Lillian nodded, the word gained an immediate response from Dirk.

"Did she just say... Bibbit?" He laughed. "Bibbit... _Mmhmm, mmhmm,_ ok." He turned his back to the group and swiftly turned around, "Is it just me or did she just call that _thing_ Bibbit? Because it sounded an awful lot like Bibbit to me."

"Wait, isn't that the name Beast calls you?" Todd tilted his head.

"Yes, yes it is..." He paused, gears turning in his mind. "How the _bloody hell_ , does your great aunt know that name AND! Arguably, more importantly, _WHY_ in the name of mighty Thor's hammer would she EVER call that thing _Bibbit!_ "

"I don't know, man!" Said Tina.

"Bibbit," Dirk still rambled on, ignoring everything, "Bibbit... _BIBBIT_ , TODD!" He shook him.

"I think we should maybe continue exploring the house," Todd said and Dirk nodded nervously. "The door from my vision, we haven't gone through it yet. It was locked in the present, maybe it will be unlocked now. It's in the foyer."

"Sounds like a good idea," Farah said.

As they walked back, something felt off to Dirk. Something was going to happen, he just wasn't sure what. Was it good? Was it bad? He actually didn't know this time, just... off.

"Ok, so, this is it?" Tina asked. They stood in front of a dark wooden door with iron detailing.

"Yep, this is it," Todd answered. He reached down for the handle but it was locked.

"Damn it!" Tina threw herself at the door in frustration when it opened from the other side and she fell from under it.

"Who's there?! I- Farah...?" Zackariah Webb was the one on the other side. His angry expression dissolved at the sight of his old friend but quickly changed to alarm and confusion. "Dirk?! Todd?!" He looked down at his feet, "Random girl I don't know."

"Tina." She waved and stumbled up, offering her hand to Zackariah to which he cautiously shook.

"How the hell are you here?!" He pulled them through the door and shut it.

"You left us a note and a series of puzzles that lead to a time machine in a pocket dimension in the house in 2018," Dirk responded.

"That does sound like me." He scratched his chin, thinking when Dirk interrupted him.

"Wait? How can you see us?! No one else here can!"

"How can no one _else_ here see you?! Oh, you said pocket dimension right? If you came through the pocket dimension with the time machine _I_ sent, yes, that would do it... Wait! What are you doing in Louisiana?!"

"We're here on a case, what are you doing in Louisiana in the _40s_?!" Todd asked.

"I-I, I can't tell you, WAIT! You have to get out of here. Something bad is going to happen!"

"What's going to happen?!" Farah asked.

"You can't know! Your lives are in danger!"

"What do you mean our lives are in danger?!" Asked Dirk.

"You have to get out of here! Don't ask questions!"

"You can't just drop a bomb like that and expect us to not ask questions," Todd said. "What's happening?"

Zackariah sighed, he grabbed Dirk and Todd's upper arms and dragged them along. "Come with me, there are too many ears here."

"Headmaster Webber?" A young boy pulled their attention away, "What are you doing? Who are you talking to? Why are you holding the air like cups of water?"

It must have looked comical, a man arguing with the air, dragging the air somewhere unknown. He let go and shook himself off, "Please go back to your room. I have business to attend to." The boy took off without asking any more questions and Zackariah soon resumed pulling them along with him.

He pulled them into a tall, forest green, room of acceptable size with a wall of books behind an ornate dark oak desk. A few chairs sat along the wall with the door and a few at the front of his desk.

Zackariah closed the door and everyone sat down. "I am sorry about that. The children cannot know. They can't know what we're doing, well... what I'm doing."

"What the fuck is going on?!" Said Tina, arms waving around.

Todd looked at the panel on the front of the desk, it was carved, the symbol from the clock. A box with a triangle in the center with a line down the center. Two lines in the bottom corners, one line in the middle top of the triangle that on either sides to lines growing up to the to corner.

"That symbol was on the gate, and the door under the clock lock in the first puzzle. There were other symbols too!" Todd said.

"Yes!" Dirk added.

"Was the other symbol..." he gulped, "a circle, with a vertical line down the center, a downward-facing half circle at the top of the line, and towards the bottom another line going through half of the circle?"

"YES!" Dirk smiled.

Zackariah began shaking and muttered under his breath, "Why... why the hell did I use that damned symbol?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Dirk asked.

"Oh! No, no, I didn't say anything." He responded.

"Right, anyway, the symbol?" Dirk continued.

"The, th-the symbol on the desk." He began explaining. "It's the symbol of a top-secret government organization."

"Government organization?" Farah said as she adjusted herself in her chair.

"Yes. I work for it, at least officially, sort of. I'm using another name, James Webber. I can't have _them_ following me."

"Who are, the _thems,_ you speak of?" Dirk said. He leaned in intently.

"They, they don't exist yet. Nothing you need to worry about. Who am I kidding? It's this that gets me caught in the first place."

"What's the organization you work for?" Todd asked.

"I can't tell you, your lives would be in danger."

" _Damn it_ , Pat! We're already in danger." Said Farah.

"Fine! The organization," He sighed. "It's called 'Project Oneiroi', that's what this house is. We're testing a monster of my creation."

"Wait you made that thing?!" Tina asked.

"Yes. It's meant to defeat Axis," They looked confused. "Basically the Nazis and other countries."

"Axis. _Axis_ , the monster, the monster is for Axis, it's coming together." Todd said.

"Well, everything _is_ connected," Dirk smiled to him when he got an idea, "Wait! You built perfect a life-like monster, can you build humans?"

"What?!" Zackariah asked, thoroughly confused.

"We found a ghost, two actually. The first one lead us here." Todd said.

"Sort of, indirectly actually," Dirk added. "You see, the ghost zapped Todd and then he had an episode, _and_ _then_ he had a vision that told us to come here _and_ _THEN_ we found the pocket dimension and now we're here."

Zackariah's gaze darted between the two of them.

"Souls without bodies, victims of the cult... and this house," Farah said. "Well, Headmistress Black, who is _actually_ my great aunt."

"It's all weird, man." Tina shrugged.

"It's a woman and a little girl." Said Dirk. "The little girl is here, don't know if she's been separated yet. They can possess machinery, do you think you can make bodies for them?"

"The little girl maybe, but if you met her in 2018, then it's too late and I can't make one, and the woman definitely not. I'm so sorry. I can't come back to 2001 yet, and definitely not 2018."

"Well shit," Todd said.

"Please! You have to help them. They're going to be stuck in the air for all of eternity!" Dirk pleaded.

"I know, and I am truly sorry. The thing is that the organization is going through with the monster, and it's bad. So I'm sabotaging the plan, they already defeat them without this thing. That's why you have to get out, my plan goes into action tonight. The project has killed 5 children already, 6 if you count the ghost you just told me about, and they've probably killed countless more, they can't kill more. They go by another name today and another name before that. It started with me, they found me and hired me now, but then later, but the past for me now, they-"

"Wait, what are they called now?" Todd asked.

"You can't know. It will put your lives in great danger."

"Just tell us, Dude!" Said Tina.

"FINE!" He took a deep breath. "They were once called Black Book..." Dirk's face drained, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His eyes welled up, he felt as if he would pass out. "They now go by Blackwing."

"NO! Todd?! Farah?! Tina?! We're getting out of here! We're leaving! I'm not working this case ANYMORE!" Dirk yelled, he grabbed Todd's hand, yanked him up, and began out the door.

"Wait, how do you know about Blackwing?!" Zackariah stood up abruptly.

"Pro-pro-" His voice shook. Those dreaded words, he didn't want to say them. "Project Icarus?! Ring any evil little bells?!"

"No, what's 'Project Icarus'?"

" _ME_ YOU BUMBLING IDIOT!"

"Well that explains why you work differently than other detectives."

" _Uh duh_ ," His voice using a mocking tone, bending backwards and around to look even more crazy. "You really are a bad agent, can't even detect an anomaly." He was in Zackariah's face now.

"I'm not an agent-"

"You just said that you work for them," Todd added.

"I don't, I do, it's complicated. What's important is that you _can_ trust me because I'm-" Zackariah was cut off by Dirk.

"NO!" He cried, "We're going back to the present. That's it. Come on, Todd." He turned around and grabbed Todd's hand.

"I can't believe you, Patrick," Farah said, tears in her eyes. "You meant everything to me. You helped me through _so much_ , and I never got to say goodbye when you died. Do you know how many times I've cried at night, jealous that they got to see you, say goodbye to you?! It's unfair. They didn't know you, you had never met Todd, you only had just hired Dirk. I _actually_ knew you, and I loved you like family!" He was about to interject, " _No_ , no. You don't get to say anything else to me, not to me, Todd, Tina, and _especially_ not Dirk. He went through _hell_ all of his life because of Blackwing. You say we can trust you? No, not after what you did."

"You didn't let me finish what I was saying!"

"No, there is nothing you can say, nothing you can do to fix this," Tina said. "I honestly don't know what's happening but I _do_ know what Blackwing is, and I _do_ know how bad it hurt Dirk. I've almost never seen anyone else so damaged. He's got epic trauma, dude. No. No. You're not a dude, you don't deserve that title. You're a DOUCHE! And... AND, do you know how many nights I stay up with her?! Not only did you hurt one of my best friends but you hurt my _GIRLFRIEND,_ the highest offense! I stay up with her on the phone and wait for her to fall asleep, listening to all her stories about you. You meant _so much_ to her. You can't say anything to fix this."

They all walked out, closing the door, leaving him to his misery. He didn't follow. Good.

"I love you so goddamn much, Tina," Farah said and abruptly twisted her shirt, yanked her in, and kissed her. Tears pouring down both their faces, voices shaken from yelling so much.

Tina screamed internally, fireworks bloomed all around them. An orchestra, no, an epic electric guitar solo played in her head. Because not only was _she_ kissing her in public, something she almost _never_ does unless Tina makes the first move, but she told her she loved her! And she meant every word. And Tina meant everything she said back there, and every word she would say next:

"I fucking love you so fucking much babe, more than words could ever express, and I'll always be there." They smiled and laughed between tears, foreheads resting together.

" _Awwww!_ " Dirk said, "Ok, we normally get all the cute couple moments and the ' _awws'_ from you but this was..." He vaguely gestured vaguely. "Just adorable, I think we're even now." 

"Ok, no, I don't think we'll ever be even with you guys." Farah laughed.

"Not unless I step up my game!" Tina kissed her again.

They walked through the old door to the other side, thank god Zackariah left it unlocked.

"Where the hell are we going to go to get back?" Todd asked as he picked up the machine they left in the hall. "The alternate dimension hole isn't here."

"Tina and I found a room with a plug. Hopefully, it's here." Farah said, they started to the room and opened the door to see something shocking.

The room was in the same state in 1941 as it was in 2018. Cot and teddy bear in the corner, empty IV bag, blown-out glass. All the same except for one thing, the blood was fresh.

"You could have warned us that is was a horror scene!" Dirk said.

"Ok, we didn't know the blood would be fresh now..." Tina said.

"Still!" Said Todd.

"Let's just get back to the present," Farah brushed the broken glass off the counter and climbed over it. "Hand me the machine."

She put it on the plug and set the date as the rest of them climbed over. Dirk put his hand on the crank and the rest of them put their hands on the machine. With a zap, they were back in the present, this time in the real world.

"As much as I hate saying this, Blackwing is going to be coming after us now," Todd said.

"I know..." Dirk shook his head, adrenaline the only thing keeping him from breaking down. "We need Bart. MONA!"

The raven-haired woman in a nightgown appeared from absolutely nowhere and waved making Farah, Tina, and Todd jump.

"What the fuck?! How did she just appear from nowhere?!" Todd shouted.

"Not from nowhere, Todd," Dirk rolled his eyes. "You haven't noticed her? She's been here the whole case!"

"I've been a moth," Mona added and Dirk smiled.

"Who is this?" Tina asked.

"This is my friend Mona, she's a shapeshifter."

"Holistic actress." She corrected.

"Right, holistic actress. We grew up in Blackwing together. She can escape without anyone noticing so we hung out a lot as kids." Dirk said, he turned to Mona. "Do you think you can break out Bart?" She nodded.

"I'll get on it." And she disappeared again.

"Bye, Mona! Good luck!" He waved and gave a thumbs up. A piece of paper with a smiley face appeared and disappeared again.

Tina raised her eyebrows, "What the fu-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I am so so sorry. I promise, it will all make sense later.


	12. A New Coat of Red Paint

Bart sat in her room, cross legged, deep in thought, staring at the white wall with her symbol, alone. Completely and utterly alone. She hated it. Every second of it. She hated every second of every day.

Eight months of nothing. Sitting alone all day, except for her brief visits with Ken, doing absolutely nothing. Nothing... until today.

This morning she got the news from Ken.

Ken walked into the room, smiling. Smiling was concerning.

"Good morning, Bart!" He sat down at the table.

She cautiously walked over, "Ken, you're smiling. You haven't smiled in months."

"I KNOW! You'll never guess what happened!" He laughed.

"Ken, you're scaring me."

"We found something! Something exciting! And we think it can lead us to Icarus!"

"Dirk?"

"YES!"

And for some reason, somehow it felt as if it was all her fault. Everything. All those people she killed, did they have to die? What if she wasn't supposed to kill some of them?

Or possibly worse, were there people she should have killed but didn't? She knew of two people who fit that description, one of them was imprisoned in an alternate dimension for all of time, and the other was in the same building as her.

"You know I really want to kill you right now, right?" She stared at her lap.

"I'm well aware."

"No," she looked up, "I always say, every day, 'I should have killed you when I had the chance.' Today I'm saying 'I want to kill you.'"

"Well, what's the difference?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I'm saying... what's stopping me? Why haven't I done it?"

But she didn't. She never did. Today she came very close.

" _Hm_?"

"Like, what if I did it right now?"

And she kicked herself that she didn't.

"What if, I walked over to the other side of the table, and took my hands, and I just strangled you? What if I did that?"

"Then the guards would come in and kill you."

"They can't. So what's stopping me?"

"I think you're stopping you."

And... he was right.

"I'm not stopping me."

He bent over the table, "I think that you're stopping you, and I think you know it."

"Why would I be stopping me?"

Because...

"You care about me."

"I do no-"

"You do."

She did. And it killed her. It _killed_ her. And she screamed, she screamed at the top her lungs and punched her pillow.

"Goodbye, Bart. See you tomorrow." He got up and left.

"See ya."

But what she didn't know? She wouldn't see him tomorrow. Sitting there, all alone, screaming at herself for her stupidity, a fly flew through a vent. A fly, that wasn't a fly. No, not a fly at all, but:

"MONA?!" The fly transformed in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out. Dirk is-"

"In danger, I know."

"How do you know?"

"Ken, how do you know?"

"Dirk."

"Ok. What's the plan?"

"I was thinking I could turn into a machine gun." She smiled innocently.

"I like that." She grinned ear to ear. "I like that _a lot_."

Ken heard a banging from the other side of the facility. It started slow. _Bang... Bang... Bang..._ He got up, looked out the doorway of his office. Empty.

He sighed and sat down. _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ What the hell?

Then came the blaring sirens. The blinding flashing red lights. The screams.

"ADAMS!" Assistent ran into his office. "It's Marzana."

"SHIT!"

"THIS. IS. AWESOME!" Bart yelled, running down the halls, shooting chaotically.

People screamed and ran in all different directions, papers flew all around, coffee spilled, blood sprayed everywhere, _bodies dropped._

Guards came at Bart from all directions. And with a single turn and _many_ bullets, they all dropped dead, falling backward, forming a circle around her.

She stepped over them, laughing. "I hate this place."

Going down the halls, the only light came from the gun and the alarm lights.

No one escaped her. No one. At least no one she thought should die.

Occasionally, she saw a screaming person and knew, they were supposed to live and "missed". The people who lived would go on and find a new job.

The people who died? They would have continued hunting down anomalies. They had to die. Nothing personal, she didn't know them.

One of the best things about being a holistic assassin is the people you kill, you don't know. You know _nothing_ about them, there isn't anything to feel guilty about. You see them, they're your target, you kill them. End of story. A classic assassin gets a file, learns things, and there's guilt. She never felt guilty. If she felt guilty, she wasn't supposed to kill them.

But Ken? He was different.

Down the halls, around the corners, in the offices, _BAM, BAM, BAM_! Dead, Dead, Dead. Blood, Blood, Blood. And lots of it.

People ran, people cried, people died. It was glorious. And she knew, her mission was accomplished. Everyone who was supposed to be dead she had killed. Every last person at Blackwing who was important was dead. Everyone except...

"Bart?" She heard someone call behind her, Ken. "Bart, you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do." She turned around. Standing there in the middle of the hall, surrounded by people screaming and running around them. The occasional guard would come up behind her and try to take her gun but she just shot them.

"No, you don't. These innocent people don't deserve to die."

"Oh, these people aren't innocent," she gestured to the bodies on the ground. "These people are innocent," she gestured to the people running around them.

"How did you get out?"

"You can't contain me. You made a mistake, telling me you were going after Dirk."

"And you made a mistake too." He walked to her slowly and pushed her gun down. "Why am I still alive?"

"I-I..."

"Come back, Bart."

"No." She continued walking, actually began running. Leaving her guilt behind her.

And she ran, she ran smiling. She was free.

She ran until she was far enough and Mona returned to her human form.

"That was awesome!" Bart said and high-fived Mona.

"Can I be a bug again?"

"Yes. We're done for now."

A girl in a blood-splattered jumpsuit and a moth traveled down an empty road, waiting for the next car to come along and take. It was a sight to see.

And so the walls of Blackwing received a new coat of red paint that day.


	13. Angel

It had been two hours since they got back from 1941 and back to the motel. And everyone was on edge, to say the least.

How was it possible that Zackariah Webb was with Blackwing? It didn't make sense. It seemed so unlike him. But Farah also said it seemed unlike her great aunt to be acting the way she was in the mansion. Why was she there? How did she know the name Bibbit? Why was that thing called Bibbit? What was that thing, period. Why was there a pocket dimension that worked the same way the one in the Cardena's house did in a house in Louisiana? How did none of them notice Mona?!

To say the least, absolutely nothing about this case made sense. If you could even call it a case. Right now it seemed more like a fever dream on shrooms.

No one hired them, at least for this part. Nothing connected, at least in the case, it seemed to be connected to everything else that ever happened to them ever but didn't connect together. And it seemed to be going nowhere.

What was the next step? Because they had no idea of what to do. Just sit back and wait for something to happen? That seemed like their best and only option.

Farah and Tina just layed in the bed next to Todd and Dirk's, staring at the ceiling, silent. Todd sat on the edge of his, writing down everything he knew about the case, trying to connect things in a web to no avail, anxiously waiting for Dirk to return.

That's right, waiting for him to return.

After they got back, Todd had asked that they talk about what happened but Dirk insisted he needed some time by himself. He wanted to respect him and give him space if he needed it, but two hours? He was worried, and sure two hours isn't a lot but for Dirk it is.

"Have you heard from Dirk?" Todd turned to Farah and Tina.

"No," Farah sat up. "You haven't either?"

"He hasn't said anything to me either," Tina said.

"Shit. I'm going to call him." Todd went to grab his phone when his screen turned on and Dirk was calling. "It's him!" He said excitedly and answered immediately. "Dirk?! Are you ok?"

But it wasn't Dirk on the other side. It was a southern man, "Is this Dirk's girlfriend?"

"No, this is his best friend, Todd."

The man let out an auditable _OH_ and said, "I hate to ruin your friendship or out your friend, I know that's bad, but it's a little late for that now." He laughed nervously. "He asked me to call a contact that said 'Moon and Stars' with a string of heart emojis... and I'm talking about a _lot_ of heart emojis... and now I'm talking to you... I think he likes you..." 

Todd smiled now knowing his contact name. Dirk was too precious for this world. "Oh, no! It's ok. He actually _is_ my boyfriend." The man sighed in relief. "We're here on business and trying to stay safe, ya know?"

"Oh good, glad he has someone to help him through this." He gasped, "Unless you had a fight, you better not have. I don't know you but if you made him this upset you've made an enemy of me."

"Wait, what's happening? Is he ok?!"

"We're on the beach, he's _very_ drunk."

"Oh god," Todd got up and began putting on his shoes. Farah and Tina looked over at him concerned. He looked at them saying, "He's not a pretty sight drunk," Farah's eyes widened, knowing all too well. 

"He needs someone to come pick him up. I'll stay here with him until you get here."

"I appreciate it. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to him. I'm assuming the beach across from the motel?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be there in two minutes. Thank you, again."

"No problem, least I can do." Todd hung up and grabbed the whole pack of water bottles from the desk in the room. He knew he probably didn’t need that much, but god help him he was going to make sure Dirk wasn’t hangover.

"He's drunk?" Farah asked.

"Yep." Todd sighed.

"Please, sober him up a bit before bringing him back." She laughed.

"I'll try." He started towards the door.

"Is he really that bad?" Asked Tina.

"Yes." Farah and Todd both replied before he left and shut the door.

Todd ran across the parking lot, across the road, worry flooding his mind.

As he walked down the wooden boardwalk steps and onto the hot sand he saw them and continued running.

Dirk heard something approaching and turned around to see Todd like a night in shining armor approaching them. "TOOODDD!" He sloppily flung himself onto his boyfriend.

"Are you actually Todd?" The man beside them asked, "Normally I'd take his response as an answer but I'm not sure he can even see correctly.

"I'm definitely Todd." He tried to shake the man's hand but it was no use, Dirk had him completely immobilized. "Do you know how much he's had?"

"Not sure, I just know this is some of the drunkest I've ever seen someone."

"Like I said, he's not pretty drunk."

Dirk looked up at Todd with sad eyes and let go, "You think I'm not pretty?" He slurred.

"No, no, you're beautiful, Dirk." Todd laughed. He sat down on the sand and gently guided him down with. He pulled Dirk in to rest in his arms and began soothingly stroking his head. "I meant you don't handle alcohol well."

"Oh-ok." He responded eyes squinted. "I think you're right. You're..." He waved his arms about, "pretty, that's the word! You're pretty too, Todd."

"Thank you so much," Todd said to the man. "I seriously can't thank you enough."

"It's no problem at all." The man began walking off.

Dirk half smiled and gave the man a disgruntled thumbs up. "Thanks for calling my love-oo." But the man was already too far.

"Jesus, Dirk. You sound like Beast."

"I do _NOT_! Beast sounds like this," He attempted to make his voice raspy, " _Love-oooo, eet_ _da burgabush._ " Todd laughed. "Todd, you know, a burgabush burger sounds _really_ good right now. Todd, I'm hungry."

"What the hell is a burga- never mind. I need you to drink this water first." He unscrewed one of the water bottles and offered it to Dirk.

" _Whyyy_?"

"You don't want a hangover, do you? And Farah told me to sober you up a bit before we go back so we're going to sit here for a while and you're going to drink lots of water."

" _Nooo_ , I like being drunk! It gives my brain a break from the..." He began snapping but then was sidetracked. "Woah, snapping is cool, it's amazing. The friction causes a sound. How does that even work?!" He stared at his fingers for a few more moments before realizing he was off track. "Right! It gives me a break from the, the-uh, _holistic_ thing."

"Yeah but no one likes drunk you, sure your charming and funny now but you can get a little... chaotic."

"I DO NOT" He got up and began stumbling away.

"Hey!" Todd chased after him. "Come back!" He grabbed his hand to stop Dirk.

"I AM NOT CHAOTIC WHEN I'M DRUNK! YOU'RE AN ARSE!" Dirk's eyes began welling up as he dropped down and began sobbing with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry Todd I'm sorry I'm sorry!" His words fast-paced and intertwined.

Todd followed him to the ground and rubbed his back. "I know Dirk. It's ok."

"No, it's not! I called you an arse. The one thing I promised to never call you!" He continued crying.

"You're drunk, Dirk. That's what I meant when I said you're chaotic. Hell, this is nothing compared to how you usually are drunk. Now please," He kissed Dirk's head, "Drink some water."

"I called you an arse, Todd! I'm awful. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I failed! I'm a failure!"

"What did you fail?"

"Love." He looked up at Todd with rosy tear-stained cheeks that matched the setting sun on the ocean in front of them.

"Oh Dirk, you didn't fail. It's ok. I promise I'm ok."

"I didn't?" He wiped his eyes with his unfortunately-sand-covered jacket then realized his mistake and began frantically wiping the sand off of his face which caused Todd to laugh.

"No. The fact that you immediately started crying shows you didn't fail."

"Ok... ok. Ok." He sniffed and took the water from Todd. "I love you so much darling, you know that? I'm so _so_ sorry." He was still slurring.

"I love you, nothing can ever change that. It's _really_ ok, Dirk." They sat silent for a minute, staring at the blue foamy waves crashing on the sand, holding each other close.

" _Heeyy Todd_ , how come you never call me any cute names?"

 _Great, here come the drunken questions I don't want to answer._ Todd thought. "I don't know," he shrugged. "It's not really my thing."

"But why? I have a gazillion names for you. Darling, dear, love, sweet, handsome, gorgeous, beautiful, assisboyfriend, moon and stars, light of my life, one and only, sunshine-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, I am not sunshine," Todd said and rolled his eyes.

"But you're _my_ sunshine!" He gasped in realization, "I'm sunshine! You should call me sunshine! That can be your name for me!" 

"While you are definitely sunshine, I'm not calling you sunshine."

"Well you have to call me _something._ "

"Dirk. There, that's something." He remarked sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant. Everyone who knows us says we're the sickening-ly sweet couple, we _have_ to have names for each other!"

"We can still be like that without names."

"Why are you so opposed to this, _sunshine_?" Todd playfully shoved him. "I'll start naming off names and you say when you like one."

"Fine." He rolled his eyes and smiled. The truth was he didn't like pet names for the same reason he "doesn't like" most other stuff, he was worried about his tough, dark, reputation. But like all the other things he "doesn't like," he would forget about that if it made Dirk happy. So maybe a pet name wouldn't be so bad.

"Ok, honey."

"No."

"Baby."

"No.

"Angel."

"I think that fits. You're definitely angelic, to say the least."

"Even drunk?"

" _Ehh_ ," he jokingly shook his hand 'so-so' and Dirk pouted. "I'm kidding... _angel_." Dirk laid his head on Todd's shoulder.

"I love you Toad Dottsman." He said without even realizing it.

"And I love you Dork Jontly." Dirk lifted his head and looked at Todd confused. "You called me Toad Dottsman." And Dirk began laughing uncontrollably.

"I really am drunk, aren't I?"

"Yeah, you're pretty bad. You're slurring all over the place."

"I am?"

"Oh yeah." Dirk began laughing again and then stopped abruptly.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Todd turned to him.

"Getting drunk. Well, for leaving you for... how long has it been?"

"Two hours."

"Yeah, that. And I'm sorry for not telling you where I was going, and not telling you I was going to drink. And not telling you... everything really. I thought getting a little tipsy would help with everything today. But then one thing turned into another and, well, four beers later I'm slurring and stumbling."

"You could have told me you wanted to drink. The rest of us would have _gladly_ joined you in it. Tina probably could have gotten us faded and _God_ that would have been fun."

"I guess I could have. I was worried that you would have tried to stop me because of... this." He gestured sloppily.

"Hey, I don't blame you. Learning all of that Blackwing shit, that was hard. Sure, not telling me was crappy but at least you're safe."

"I just feel so awful. This case. I normally help people. I helped _THOR,_ I stopped a cult and saved a girl's life, I saved a whole alternate dimension for Christ's sake! But this one is just pain and suffering for no reason. I can't help the ghosts, I can't help the kids in one-own-ahni- fuck that's hard to say!"

"Awn-nih-roy," Todd corrected his pronunciation of "Oneiroi".

"That!" Dirk pointed. "I can't help the kids there, I can't do anything! What's the point of being a holistic detective if I can't help?"

"Maybe you haven't met the people you're supposed to help yet?"

"I usually help right away. Even if I don't know who, I still have a hint."

"I'm sure you're going to help someone. Why else would you be on the case? What else is there to solve if not helping people?"

"Oh please, Todd, I don't want to do the-" he tapped his head trying to recall the word he was looking for and also to show Todd the word he was thinking of. _Thinking, that's it!_ "I don't want to do the think-y thing right now." 

"Oh, you don't want to do the ' _think-y_ ' thing right now?" He shook his head and repeated in a mocking tone.

"I don't want to do the think-y thing right now." He shook his head, lip pouted, and laid his head back down on Todd's shoulder.

"Ok." He played with Dirk's hair. "What do you want to do then?"

"I want to kiss you." He grinned, trying to look sexy but failing in an awkwardly charming way.

"I could get on board with that." He turned and lifted Dirk's head, bringing his lips to his, tasting the lingering alcohol in his breath. Oh drunk Dirk, uncoordinated, the kiss was sloppy on his part but Todd didn't mind. He didn't mind as long as his angel was safe.


	14. A Little Wooden Box

Have you ever felt like words were pointless? Like they didn't matter? Like they were meaningless? Like it didn't matter what you said in that moment, it had no effect on anyone around you? But felt like that in a good way. You felt as if you could sit silently with your loved one. Words were pointless, had no meaning, had no use. Not that you could read each other's mind or anything, you just didn't need to say anything, do anything. You just merely needed to exist in the same room as them to be content.

That's how Farah and Tina felt in that moment. They held each other close, not needing words in that moment, only needing each other's company.

Tina was thinking about everything in her life that she had ever done. Wondering what point in her life had whatever force out there had decided she was worthy. That she deserved this. That she deserved to have someone as amazing as Farah in her life.

Farah, unfortunately, was preoccupied with the events of that day. Thinking about how Patrick had tricked her. How he lied about everything. Thinking about how gullible she was. She was gullible to believe he was a good person. _You know what? Screw this, I'm not thinking about this right now. I shouldn't be thinking about that, that's the past. Think about the future. No, screw the future, think about the present. The present, what even is the present now? This case makes absolutely no sense. What can I do? How can I help with this?... THE GHOST!_

"Tina!" She sat up sharply and turned to her. "We have to go back to the house! We have to talk to Esther!"

"Who the fuck is Esther?!"

"The ghost from the house, the little girl? Remember?"

" _OH!_ But do we have to now?" She whined, trying to pull Farah back down. "I don't want to get up."

"We're on a case, we can't waste time." Farah stood up and got her shoes on.

"But what about Dirk and Todd?" She sat up.

"Dirk is drunk, he'll slow us down, maybe even put us in danger."

"Doesn't he already do that though? And don't we need him for the holistic thing to work?"

" _Eh_ , we're just talking to a ghost. We don't need him."

"You're acting a lot like me right now... normally you think... Are you high?!"

"No, I wouldn't steal your stuff without asking. I just-she needs help, and we promised we would be back."

Tina sighed in defeat and stood up to walk over to Farah. "Ok, fine."

"Thank you, baby."

"Only for you though." She stroked Farah's cheek lovingly and brought their lips together for a perfect kiss.

"I'm calling Todd." She waited for a moment, nothing. "Damn it! I'll just text him and tell him where we're going."

* * *

As they approached the house, they couldn't help but feel anxious. The scene that unfolded earlier that day was intense, to say the least, and returning left a deep, empty pit in their stomachs. And though it might sound a bit silly, going back at night certainly didn't help.

They once again opened the front door to see the monster, or rather machine, tearing through the floor but only this time it was expected.

Stepping forward cautiously Farah called out, "Esther? It's Farah and Tina, we're back. I'm sorry we left so soon earlier but we're here to talk more if you want."

It did the trick and the blue dot appeared in front of them and began to grow into the little girl. "I'm glad you're back. It gets lonely around here."

"I can imagine," Tina said.

"What do you need to know?" Esther asked.

"You said Headmistress Black did this to you, right?" Farah asked and the ghost nodded. "She didn't happen to be, Lillian Black? She was my great aunt."

"Yes, you don't seem anything like her though, you're nice."

"Up until you told me I thought she was too. I'm sorry she did this to you."

"Don't be, I deserve this."

"What?" Tina stepped forward. She was actually really good with kids, and really really good at helping people. It was Farrah's favorite thing about her. How much she cared. "You didn't deserve to die, Esther. You had a life. You were just a kid. What? Eight, nine?"

"Eight."

"See? You have every right to be mad at Lillian Black."

"I had to die. I was too dangerous. I did something. I did something bad. She had to in order to protect everyone."

"What?" Farah asked, completely and utterly shocked.

"What did you do, sweetie?" Tina asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Please, Esther. We're trying to help." Farah responded.

"No! Please. Just go." And she zapped into nothingness.

"Esther! Please come back!" Tina yelled but nothing happened.

"Dead end. Let's go back to the motel." Farah said. 

* * *

It had been a few hours. Enough for Dirk to become _slightly_ more cognitive. And it was nice, having a mini-break from the case. Especially if the break involved kissing Dirk. Yes they had been kissing for hours, well, they took breaks often and talked, but still. It went something like; making-out for a few minutes, Todd realizing Dirk should drink more water, talking for a long time, either one of them said something cute and it starts all over. 

The setting was brain-meltingly romantic, to say the least. Surrounded by soft, warm sand. The night wasn't shielded by Seattle city lights, the stars were free to shine as openly and brightly as they wanted in Ocean Hill, Louisiana. Painting the sky with countless tiny, beautiful lanterns. The soothing sounds of waves rolling on the sand and angrily crashing on the rocks. The same crashing waves evaporated whilst a light, refreshing breeze carried it's salty fragrance only to mix perfectly with Dirk's musky bergamot and cedar cologne. Todd didn't mind the slightly lingering stench of alcohol and he ignored Tina and Farah's numerous texts until it was pointed it out.

"Todd?" Dirk pulled back, panting. "Your phone is ringing."

"It's just Farah and Tina wondering if we're ok." It stopped and he went back to kissing him but it was almost as if Dirk was the sober one.

"Well, maybe you should tell them that we're ok?"

"Fine." He reluctantly opened his phone and texted them they were ok. Dirk returned to kissing him only this time his neck. And despite Dirk's best attempts to ensure he could _only_ focus on that _oh-so-heavenly-feeling_ , something shiny grabbed Todd's attention from the corner of his eye. Sure it was a beach, litter everywhere, but this thing felt different, possibly important. Why didn't Dirk notice it then? Maybe he was just paranoid but better safe than sorry. He was Dirk's assis-boyfriend after all. "Dirk? Did you come to the beach for a reason?"

"No, I don't think so..." he paused to think deeply about the idea. "Did I? I might have. The past few hours have _all_ been a blur." He giggled, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think-" he stood up, "I think I just found a clue..."

"A clue?" Dirk followed. "Excellent assisting Todd, you magnificent thing you, I have never loved you more than I do in this moment." He kissed Todd's cheek, "Now, what might this clue be?"

Todd walked over to where he saw the faint glimmer in the moonlight. He bent down and began digging in the wet sand and pulled out... a piece of green glass. "Damn it, nothing." But Dirk continued digging, "What are you doing? It was nothing."

"The universe told me to keep digging. So, I'm digging." He responded. Todd sighed and sat back down to join the digging. Digging, digging, digging until: "I found it!"

A small wooden box, brown leather straps holding the lid down and acting as hinges. The Oneiroi symbol carved in on the top.

"A wooden box? Nice work, Dirk!" Todd said, "What are you waiting for?! Open it!"

Dirk opened the box to see a pile of aged papers. The one on top was folded, with shaking hands he opened it and began to read to himself. "Don't blame Mother. This was my doing. I'm truly sorry, but I had to little brother. I had to for your own safety. I hope you understand one day."

Todd shuffled through the papers, they were all crayon drawings made by a child. "Some sort of time capsule?" He said.

"I'm not sure, I don't think so. The note, it's heartbreaking. I don't know what it's about though." He handed it to Todd and he read the note while Dirk inspected some of the drawings he had removed from the box closely. And while inspecting them, one particular drawing caught his eye.

A smiling moon shined down on a field of tall green grass covered in a rainbow of wildflowers, a forest at the back. Nothing too special except for the text at the bottom in red that read: Wendimoor.

Dirk stared at it wide-eyed, speechless. Todd continued to dig through the box after reading the note and found an old black and white photo taken on this very beach. Taken by a dock over to their left a good 100 feet away.

The photo was of a small white fishing boat, a little girl-about eight years old-and what appeared to be her parents holding a toddler standing in front of it on a dock. But the fishing boat was not just any fishing boat. It was a fishing boat that happened to be named: "The Pollock. What the fuck?" Todd said, face ghostly white.

"Todd, one of these drawings says 'Wendimoor' on it." Todd's face visibly drained even more, if it was even possible.

"Look at this picture." He handed Dirk the photograph and he gasped.

"The Pollock? Oh my god. How is... wait, this is _just_ 'The Pollock', not the 'Infant, Male, Pollock, Francis'. It can't be the same boat," he looked up. "Right?" 

"Everything _is_ connected..." Todd replied. 

"We have to take this back to Tina and Farah." Dirk put everything back in the box, stood up, and began jogging to the motel across the street.

"Wait up!"

"Farah! Tina!" Dirk burst through the door holding the box in front of him proudly. "We found something." He smirked.

"Oh my god, there you are!" Farah said. "Why didn't you respond to my text? Well, you did but not _to_ my text. Did you even read it?" Todd just blushed, shrugged his shoulders to bring _Dirk's_ jacket ( _What? He was 'cold'._ ) collar up, and flew his hand to his neck. Farah and Tina both rolled their eyes.

"We went back to the house and talked to the girl, Esther," Tina changed the subject. "She said Lillian killed her because she was 'dangerous', and the girl seemed to agree. I was like, 'bullshit', well not 'bullshit' because kid, but like, 'no!'"

"We found this box. It's got some weird shit inside." Todd said.

Dirk brought it over to them, set it on the bed, and opened it. "What the hell?!" Farah immediately grabbed the photo sitting on top. "This is Esther!"

"It is?!" Dirk and Todd said.

"Oh my god, it is!" Tina added looking over Farah's shoulder. "And is that... no! 'The Pollock'? Not the 'Infant, Male, Pollock, Francis' but ' _THE POLLOCK_ '?! They look the same!"

"See, we've got the Bergsberg expert saying they're the same boat," Todd said. "Everything is connected."

"Everything is connected!" Dirk repeated.

"But that isn't even half of it!" Todd reached down to pull out the drawing.

"WENDIMOOR?!" Farah said.

"And this note," Todd held up the piece of paper, "Knowing the girl in the photo is Esther it makes more sense. She said she did something to her brother. I think that's him." He pointed to the toddler in the photo Tina was holding.

"What the hell is going on?!" Said Tina.

"I don't know. I haven't solved it yet. And I actually don't think I'm close." Dirk said. "We've got a lot more to do. What? I'm not sure." 


	15. Brotzmans Don't Do Feelings

Life on the road was amazing. (A bit of an understatement) The Rowdy 3 made Amanda feel wanted, and more importantly, _alive_.

Years of being a shut-in were not good for her mental health. Her only friend her brother, and while she was thankful for him and loved him, it wasn't the same as having friends. And when her brother finally got friends Amanda could be friends with, he revealed the truth. That he never had pararibulitis, that he drained his parents of their money, that he broke up the band because he stole their instruments and sold them, that he was just all around-for lack of better words-a _DICK_.

And while she had, for the most part, forgave him, he was a different person, after all, that was the problem. She felt like she didn't know him. The only thing that had changed about him was he got rid of all the bad parts, and yet it still felt like he had tricked her-which he did-but tricked her into believing he was a totally different person.

But she wanted to let him try, so she visited him. But when she did visit last week? He spent the entire time with Dirk! Which was sort of her fault, she had made him confess his feelings but she didn't exactly expect that outcome.

The thing was, Todd Brotzman doesn't _do_ relationships. He's very casual about them normally. A few dates here and there, kisses and sex every once and a while, but he didn't do _love_. He would always put himself first, he only did those things when he "had the time"-which was almost never-or when it was convenient for himself. In truth, she didn't think he had ever really, actually, fully, truly, been in love before. She knew Dirk was different, and she had hoped he would fall in love with him, she probably even knew it, but she just didn't expect Todd to dive in headfirst. She didn't expect Todd to pour all his love and attention onto the man, spend every waking moment with him. She more expected him to dip his toes in the water first, go on a date, make out a bit, but be mostly _friendly_ with Dirk until something happened... but she didn't know what that thing was. Maybe that was the flaw in her thinking.

Dirk made Todd happy in a way she had never seen him. He truly did love him. Truly, fully, actually, really.

Dirk made Todd smile, he made Todd laugh, he made Todd cry-in a good way, he never ever cries and Amanda actually found it worrying. He made Todd _feel_ again. If she had to trace down the moment he became his grumbly grump self, she'd pin it to middle school. Ah yes, _hell_.

Their aunt had just gotten pararibulitis. She had always been significant to their life. Almost a second mother. She was there for them when they fell off their bike, or got rejected, or failed an important test. And it killed Todd to see her in pain. It killed both of them.

But Todd was older than Amanda, he understood the world better, he was more mature, and the kids at his school? They also knew more, but not enough.  
It was at a school talent show, he was playing guitar, when something happened and his aunt went into an attack in front of the whole school. And since that day, no one would ever let Todd live down the fact that he had a "crazy" aunt.

It started with words and names, but it quickly escalated after Todd had decided he had enough of this bullshit, and he got physical. A slap, a single slap. But that slap was returned, and not as a slap but as kicks and punches. And he never again did or said anything to them, but they continued relentlessly for years.

By sophomore year he didn't feel anymore. By junior year he became cold. By senior year he became vengeful. And by college? You know the rest.

"You ok, 'Manda?" Martin's voice pulled Amanda out of her deep thoughts.

"Yeah, fine." She turned to face him from the passenger's seat.

"Come on, don't lie to us." Gripps perked up from the back. "We can smell it."

"Yeah, all that negative energy-" Vogel added enthusiastically.

"Real tasty smelling!" Cross finished his statement.

"Ok, fine." _But only for Vogel_. She reached up to grab the cigarette box that sat on the dash. "I'm just thinking."

"Bout' what?" Martin asked.

"Todd." She held a cigarette to her mouth and lit it with a sharp inhale.

"What'd that asshole do now?!" Cross yelled.

"Nothing, actually." She turned her head over her shoulder to face the rest of the group. "He's actually doing really well. He's the happiest I've seen him in a long time." She turned her head back to the empty road ahead. Grey sky over the empty fields on either side of them.

"Then why the negative energy?" Martin growled under his breath. If anyone did anything to their Drummer, there would be hell to pay.

"It's just," she exhaled the smoke from her lungs forcefully, here comes a rant. "He's dating D-I-R-K now." She didn't want Beast to throw a fit over her Bibbit dating someone else, despite her insistence she was over it. "And _I_ set them up, but I didn't expect them to be so... clingy? I don't know. It's just, I gave up a weekend with you guys to hang out and talk to him and what do I get? Them making out on the couch, at the agency, in the Jeep. Him spending 3 hours one day with him doing God knows what and another 3 hours the next day on a date! And when they weren't together they were texting."

"Wow, ok. Was not expecting that." Gripps said. "Wanna talk?"

Martin made a sharp turn into the field and everyone grabbed onto the nearest object to keep from falling over while he found a clearing. He suddenly broke and opened the side van door. "You know the rules, ain't no feelings in the van!" Beast immediately got out and started running around, Cross quickly followed.

"You started it!" Vogel picked at him.

"Well, I didn't know it was gonna be a whole 'thing'!" He snarled, "You wanna talk feelings? Get out outta the van. This is a no feelings zone."

Gripps rolled his eyes and reluctantly got out. "You commin', Amanda?"

"Yeah, whatever." She opened the passenger door and hopped out.

"Hey, I'm always here to talk," he said.

"The Brotzmans don't do feelings." She responded.

"Haha," he chuckled, "You fit in real nicely here."

"That's the thing!" She sat down on a rock. "This is my home now. I love it. It's perfect."

"But?" He sat down next to her.

"But I gave up a weekend with you guys for that stupid ass and he didn't even pay attention to me! I wanted to go there to let him fix things and instead he spent the whole time with his stupid boyfriend."

"You said you set them up?"

"Yeah but-"

"I think you're blaming yourself. You think that it's your fault he isn't talking to you. Sure it was you who set them up and so there's that part, but you blame yourself for _all_ your problems."

"I'm not doing this." She tried to get up but Gripps pulled her back down.

"We're doing this."

"We're _not_ doing this." 

"Oh, we're doing this."

"I'm going to go dance with them," She pointed to Beast, Cross, and Vogel poorly dancing to " _Dead!_ " by MCR and stood up. "Want to come with?"

"No, we're doing this." She sighed and sat back down. "What do you blame yourself for?"

"I don't know, dude!"

"Think." He tapped his finger to his temple.

"I was gullible." She sighed.

"This is good, this is good. What were you gullible about?"

"Todd."

"What about though?"

"Believing he had pararibulitis."

"Ok, now we're getting somewhere! But you can't blame yourself for that. How were you supposed to know? He's an ass."

She laughed. "He is."

"But you feel guilty. About something."

"No, I don't!" She stood up again. "Martin?! Got any more cigs?!"

He rolled his eyes at her, "You put yourself in this one, Drummer. Get yourself out." She sat back down and flipped him off, to which he responded by, of course, flipping her off.

"What do you feel guilty about?" Gripps asked again.

She took a deep breath, "Ok. This is going to sound stupid." He nodded reassuring her that it wasn't. "I feel like I pushed him away...? I don't know, man. He's trying so hard, and he clearly has changed, and he wants to fix things and _shit man_ , I do too. But yet I feel like I still can't trust him. Like, what if there's other shit he lied to me about? I know there isn't, but it still sits there in my head. And I know I can't feel like that forever but I can't help it. He betrayed me, damn it! _But_... I feel guilty about it. That's why I ignored him for eight months after things got better in Wendimoore." He looked at her confused, "Canada." He threw his head back and nodded to emphasize his understanding.

"See? Not so hard. But you need to know that it's ok to feel hurt. You're likely going to feel betrayed by him for the rest of your life and you know what?"

"What?"

"FUCK HIM!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, "FUCK TODD!"

The rest of them all joined, "FUCK TODD!"

She smiled, "Fuck Todd."

"You can still have a relationship with him, you can still have a good one, but he fucked up, and he fucked up real bad, and you know what else? You don't have to forgive him. You never have to. You can stay mad at him for it until you die. But what you do need to do is find new things to be happy about with him. And us, mostly us, screw him. But what I'm saying is, make new memories. Ones you know are real."

"Thank you, Gripps." She leaned over to hug him. "I needed that."

"Any time, Drummer." He returned the hug with a pat on her back.

Martin began walking over to them, "You done talkin' feelings? 'Cause we've got fun to have." He extended a hand to Amanda, "Put this song on for ya, thought you might need a good 'fuck you' song. It's almost over but still."

She took his hand as he pulled her into a hug and lifted her off the ground.

_Have you heard the news that you're dead_   
_No one ever had much nice to say_   
_I think they never liked you anyway_

Dancing to just the song she needed to hear at that moment.

_Oh take me from the hospital bed_   
_Wouldn't it be grand_   
_To take a pistol by the hand_   
_And wouldn't it be great if we were dead_

She loved these guys so much, they understood her, they cared about her, they respected her.

_And in my honest observation_   
_During this operation_   
_Found a complication_   
_In your heart, so long_

Gripps was right. It was ok if she was mad at him. She had every fucking right to be.

_'Cause now you've got_   
_Maybe just two weeks to live_   
_Is that the most the both of you can give?_

He screwed her and their family over, he was a bullshit person back then.

_One two,_   
_One two three four_

Keywords: back then.

_La la la la la_   
_La la la la la la_   
_La la la la la la la_   
_Well come on_   
_La la la la la_   
_La la la la la la_   
_La la la la la la la_   
_Oh motherfucker_

"OH MOTHER FUCKER!" They all screamed back at the music.

_If life ain't just a joke (La la la la la)_   
_Then why are we laughing? (La la la la la la)_   
_If life ain't just a joke (La la la la la)_   
_Then why are we laughing? (La la la la la la)_

She could still be mad at him and still have a good relationship with him. She, to put it frankly, didn't really consider that an option before.

_If life ain't just a joke (La la la la la)_   
_Then why are we laughing? (La la la la la la)_   
_If life ain't just a joke (La la la la la)_   
_Then why am I dead?_   
_Dead_

As the song ended she spun in place until she realized that the Rowdies stopped dancing and stood completely still.

"You boys smell that?" Martin said, eyes to the sky.

"Oh yeah, it's intense," Cross replied.

"Something really, really bad is going to happen," Gripps added.

"Real bad," Vogel said. "See anything, Boss?"

Her visions were more vivid and her episodes were slowly leaving actually. She was now able to see on-demand, well, see on-demand better.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and searched her mind, searched the cosmos. Body on earth, roots flowing with energy from the earth's core spreading from her feet. Mind wandering, blue threads of light extending from her head.

The first thing she saw was a monster. A giant, pink, horned, worm monster, then a house, an old, decaying, mansion. She then saw a sign, "Ocean Hill, Louisiana." And then...

Todd.

But he wasn't ok. No, he was screaming, sobbing. Dirk held Todd tight, also crying. As her mind drifted back to Earth, she heard him say, no, scream something. Something that brought tears to her eyes.

"AMANDA!" He cried.

"We're going to Louisiana. Todd's in trouble."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just write Todd a backstory? Yes, yes I did. 
> 
> Also, please "Don't Panic", our beans are safe


	16. Redhead From Hell

"GODDAMNIT ADAMS!" It's interesting... life that is. Things can change so quickly as Ken discovered this morning.

The day before yesterday was arguably the best day of his life, although he couldn't be sure since he felt numb for over half a year. And to be completely honest, he might have forgotten how it felt to feel anything other than boredom and frustration.

And today? Well, today was something else entirely. Life's like that. One day you're having the best day of your life and the next you're having the worst day of your life. Of course excluding the day he met _her_. 

_Yeah, that's it. Blame her for all your problems. She's the reason you're here in this terrifying situation in the first place!_

What was that situation?

Staring down the redhead from hell on opposite sides of a table that was comically too long. 

Her eyes flamed and her nostrils flared, he was pretty sure if he closed his eyes for any amount of time and opened them her light ginger locks would turn to snakes. "MARZANA JUST KILLED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR MEN! AND PRIEST! PRIEST, ADAMS! And the ones who lived all quit! Excluding Lieutenant Assistent... and _you_ . If I didn't know any better I would say that you _let_ her escape."

His legs felt like jelly. "I can assure you, Wilson, I did not assist her in her escape-"

She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, "Then how do you explain the thousands of lives lost yesterday? Priest, Adams, she killed Priest. The greatest man who ever worked this unit is _DEAD_ Adams. Dead on _your_ watch, Adams."

"She can't be captured."

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED HER!"

"Believe me, Wilson, we tried. She doesn't _work_ like that. She _can't_ be killed."

"She can't." A man sitting on the side of the conference table said. He almost forgot that they weren't the only ones there.

"Why do you think it failed in the first place. They can't be contained." A woman added.

"This project is a complete joke. They were out for 16 years, everything was fine. Why don't we just terminate the whole thing? It's no use." Another man said.

"BECAUSE THEY ARE DANGEROUS!" Said Wilson.

"Project Marzana can't be contained, can't be hurt. The universe won't let anything get in her way. That's the whole reason she was here. If it weren't for that she'd just be a serial killer, nothing anomalous about her." Ken said.

"Then _why_ the _hell_ did she stay put for eight months?!" She pounded her hands on the table. 

"She felt guilty, like she deserved it. She wanted to be there." 

She tilted her head slightly and raised her brows, _fuck_. "What changed?" All malice in her voice left, a ruse.

"I'm not sure." He stared back blankly. Eyes fixed to hers, a staredown. 

"Something must have." Cold, unblinking.

"I've been closely monitoring her. Nothing has changed." He wasn't backing down that easily.

"If nothing has changed with her, perhaps, could something have changed with _you_?" Neither was she.

The energy in the room was intense. Cold and fiery at the same time. They were sure this is what hell felt like. All eyes were on the two of them. Darting back and forth with each statement in fear. The air felt thin, gasping to breathe, the two at the ends of the table stealing every single molecule floating around for use in their own selfish purposes of proving themselves right. 

"I'm sorry, Adams," Assistent said from behind him. "He told her about Oneiroi. Well, not _about_ Oneiroi, just told her he thought its recent activity could lead us to the other projects."

"I see." She began walking around the table very slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. "Your previous relationship with Marzana affected your judgment."

"I can assure you that has nothing to do with-"

"Some friendly chit-chat, huh?" Still coming around the table. Her face still stone cold. Her green-grey eyes like knives. "Thought her your friend, something happened and you just _had_ to tell her."

"Wilson. I-" He fought the urge to shiver as a chill came up his spine.

"You remind me of someone." She was close to him now, backing him in a corner. 

"Who might that be?" He gulped.

"Someone else who worked here, someone who was terminated. Riggins. He got too close to the projects. He could no longer do his job effectively."

"You need me, Wilson." He tried to back up further.

"And why is that?"

"She won't kill me. She never will. She's grown attached to me. I was able to push her gun down while it was pointed at me yesterday Wilson."

"She didn't kill a lot of other people yesterday."

"Think over who was killed." He briskly walked to the board on her side of the table and pulled up the list. "The guards, they all tried to stop her. Mr. Priest, very important to this operation. General Connolly, he's worked here for over twenty years. Sargent McCormick, ten years. Halpern, dead, Corzett, dead, Giovanni, dead." He just began pointing to random names and faces from the list. "Dead, dead, dead, dead! Every last important person who was there that day is dead."

"And your point is?" She crossed her arms.

"Morton, intern, alive. Bohen, assistant, alive. Troutman, management, alive. Finley, intern, alive. Moseley, records, alive. Wilson, she told me that only the innocent would make it out that day. Only the people who were important would die. And she didn't kill me, and I am the head of this operation only under you. She is attached to me. She won't kill me."

"She didn't kill Assistent."

"Honestly, I'm not sure why he is alive either." He looked at Ken offended. "Hey, It means you're important. Shut up." 

"What are you getting at Adams?"

"She won't kill me." He began walking back to her. "Do you know what she tells me every day? She tells me how much she wishes she had killed me. Yesterday morning during our daily meeting she asked what's stopping her from killing me and when I told her nothing was, she didn't kill me." The tables had turned, he was in _her_ face now. "She isn't going to kill me. You need me, Wilson. Don't make the mistake of releasing me. I'm the only one who can bring her back, and I'll be damned if I can't."

"Alright." She sighed. "You've convinced me. Just this once. Don't let your ego get in the way again Adams."

"Thank you, Wilson. You won't regret it."

"Ok people!" She picked back up at the head of the table. "I need to see you working to build a whole task force from scratch. And ASAP. We have an anomalous serial killer on the loose! I want people in Louisiana TODAY!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, there wasn't a lot to say here and I figured you would want to get back to our beans after that cliffhanger
> 
> Why did I kill Mr. Priest? I had too many characters to write and he honestly deserves it and I know for a fact Bart wouldn't hesitate in killing him


	17. Focus

"Hey, guys!" Tina said as she and Farah walked through the door into the hotel room. "We're back! And we brought coffee for Todd," She handed him a hot paper cup and he nodded in appreciation, "Tea for Dirk. How's your head?"

"Thank you, Tina." He took the cup from her hand. "I'm doing a lot better than when I first woke up, but it wasn't too bad. Todd made sure of that last night with all of the water."

"Glad to hear it." Said Farah.

"And we got donuts for everybody!" Tina presented a large dozen box from a little stand-alone bakery.

"You're the best!" He smiled at her. 

"Thank you, guys," Todd added.

"It's no problem really," Farah said.

"Did you find anything?" Dirk asked.

"Unfortunately no," Farah said. 

"Really boring out there." Said Tina. "You get any hunches?"

"Not any that revolved around the case, no," Dirk said, matter a-factly.

"How can you be sure?" Farah asked.

"Oh, I can be sure." He beamed. 

" _Anyway_..." Todd changed the subject. "Maybe we should go back to the house, or look through the box again. Maybe we're missing something."

"I'm not sure that will help," Dirk said.

"Let's put our heads together. Maybe we can connect something that we haven't connected yet." Farah suggested.

"Again, not sure that will help." Dirk repeated.

"We should at least try," Todd said. 

"It doesn't work like that," Dirk said as Todd took a sip, more like a chug of his coffee. "I think our best option is to sit and wait for something to happ-"

Todd screamed. The lid to his coffee fell off and the entire thing spilled. Except it _wasn't_ hot. It was _warm_.

He stared at his hands and lap, they bubbled and boiled. Flesh melting and oozing. Pink and yellow balloons of puss, liquid, and blood expanded and burst, leaving raw skin underneath only for the cycle to began again. It had to be his most disgusting and terrifying attack to date. He felt his stomach turn as a heat rose in his throat. He dove for the sink in the bathroom, narrowly making it.

" _FUCK_!" Dirk immediately jumped up to go get Todd's pills. Frantically digging through his duffle bag. "He hasn't vomited from an episode before!" He ran into the bathroom and turned on the light. Shaking as he tried to open the bottle.

"NO!" Todd screamed and put his hand over Dirk's to stop him from opening the bottle, shaking. So he instead grabbed a towel and wiped Todd's sweating forehead and mouth. "Th-this is so-something. L-last t-tt-time m-my ep-pp-isode lead to a- _AHHHH!_ " He continued screaming and fell to the floor, Dirk narrowly catching him and pulling his back to his chest. 

"I know, I know. You don't have to talk." Todd curled into him and Dirk rocked him in his arms, stroking his head. He mouthed out 'rubbish-bin' to the girls standing in the bathroom doorway. Tina darted for it and handed it to Dirk who then handed it to Todd who pushed it away with a trembling arm. Thank God he was done with that. "You sure you don't want your pills? This looks to be a bad one."

"NO!" He cried, "I n-need t-tt-t-to have a v-vision. Pp-pills s-st-top th-them."

"Ok. Ok." He kissed the top of Todd's head. "I'm here then." Todd nodded and then screamed again. " _Shhhh..._ I'm here."

He sobbed and screamed for a few minutes, Dirk soothingly shushing him.

It was agonizing. Agonizing for Dirk to watch, Agonizing for Todd to experience. It was strong and vivid, more so than usual and it didn't help that the visuals that accompanied it made him want to vomit. Like something from a horror movie. What was worse was that like Amanda had taught him, to use the powers of the attacks you had to focus on them. You couldn't ignore them. 

So usually when he didn't have pills he would focus on something external to remind him of what was real. He would listen to music, if Dirk was there he would have Dirk hold him. Even before they dated. He was the first person he would call, he had an excuse to be in his arms. Dirk had an excuse to hold him. It worked for both of them. And Dirk could be there in a matter of seconds. Just like when they first met, Dirk would jump out his window onto the fire escape, climb down to Todd's window and crawl in. He did have the apartment directly above him after all. Todd actually didn't have to call most times, most times Dirk would hear a scream from beneath him and drop everything to go check on his secret love.

But he knew he had to focus on the attack, he had to give it strength, allow it to take over. He couldn't give up, he couldn't take the easy way out and ask for his pills or look up at Dirk. And focusing on it drew it out longer, but his body hadn't given in yet. He had to focus, allow the pain to grow, make it too much. 

And after five minutes, five excruciating minutes, he finally slipped out of consciousness.

"Thank God." Dirk sighed. He kissed Todd's sweat-drenched forehead and let go of him only so he could get up and carry him onto their bed.

Todd's mind wandered at last. Whizzing through the cosmos until it settled back on the house. But this time it quickly switched to a glowing pool of water. His mind dove in and resurfaced in the throne-room in Wendimoor. 

Todd woke up on something soft, something cool on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes to see Dirk's worried expression dissolve into a relieved smile.

"You were out for a while with this one." Dirk planted a kiss on Todd's hand which was interlaced with his. His free hand blotting his face with a cold wet washcloth. "How do you feel, love?"

"Weak, shitty. Absolute shit." He said. "My mouth tastes like barf and it's not fun. That was a bad one. I think the worst one I've ever had."

"You were incredibly brave, darling. I'm so proud of you."

"I was boiling. Literally. My skin was melting and popping with blood and puss everywhere."

"Shit, no wonder you puked." He heard Tina say, but he couldn't see her, and he didn't want to move his head to try.

"What did you see?" Farah's voice added, "If you saw anything."

"Right, completely forgot about that part. Yeah, there's a portal to Wendimoor somewhere in Oneiroi." He said nonchalantly.

He heard a mix of "What the fuck?", "Dude, that's a massive bomb!", and a "Bloody hell!" from around him.

"You're joking right?" Tina asked. 

"The box, it had a picture of Wendimoor in it. There was a portal to Wendimoore in the Cardena's house and it also had the pocket dimension, Oneiroi has one. Plus that creature was called 'Bibbit', maybe the name has a cultural significance to whatever Beast is?" Dirk said.

"Well, that would explain a lot," Farah said.

"I think we have to go back to the mansion," Dirk smiled. "And back to Wendimoore. I can't wait to see everyone again!"

"Alright!" Tina said excitedly.

"Wait, we're going to Wendimoor?!" Farah asked, shocked.

"Looks like it!" Dirk said. "You're going to love it! I think Farah and Litzibitz would be great friends don't you agree, Todd?"

"You know how last night you said you 'Don't want to do the think-y thing right now'?" Todd said.

"No..."

"Well, you said that, and I don't want to do that right now either." He laughed. "I know we've got a case to solve and all but, I feel fucking awful Dirk. Do you think we could stay here a bit, I could take a fifteen-minute nap or something?"

"I don't see why not." Dirk got up and began to move the duvet over Todd but he stopped him.

"No, stay here with me."

"Of course, love." He walked over to the other side and got in. Todd scootched over and laid his head on Dirk and exhausted, he quickly fell asleep. 

* * *

It was an abnormally chilly afternoon for summer in Louisiana. The grey sky blocked the sun and managed to bring it down to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, a nice break from that 100 plus they had received over their past few days here, but still hot compared to what they're used to in the cold Seattle weather. Regardless, it was nice.

As they approach the house, as always, they felt uneasy. However this time the feeling was even more apparent. Especially to Dirk.

"Keep an eye out," Dirk said. "Something bad is _definitely_ going to happen."

"Way to lighten the mood, man," Tina said.

"I fucking hate this place," Todd added to which they all nodded.

Walking in they were greeted with the machine, now completely desensitized. Nothing _in_ this house would surprise them anymore.

"Where was the portal?" Farah asked.

"I didn't see. All I saw was the house and then a pool of water and then the throne-room."

"All that for a vision with less content than the first one? Damn." Tina said.

"Feel anything, Dirk?" Todd squeezed his hand.

"No." He squeezed in return. "Look's like we're doing this the old fashioned way."

"Which is?" Tina asked.

"Searching every room thoroughly."

"Fun," Farah said. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Water." Todd and Dirk said.

"Any form. Sure my vision was of a pool, but it could have been where we come out of, not where we came in. Keep an eye out for any water stains, wet walls... or pools."

"It's an old house, there's literally water stains everywhere here!" Tina grunted.

"I guess we're keeping an eye out everywhere then," Dirk said.

* * *

It was happening. The day he had been dreaming of for eight months. The day he would get back Dirk.

Four black vans approached the house on the hill. Three with five heavily armed soldiers each, one with Ken and Assistent inside. 

He sighed a happy sigh as he stepped out of the van and onto the pavement. Relishing the salty air, remembering every detail of the day he brought back Icarus.

The other vans parked and each soldier exited in an orderly fashion, gathering in front of Ken and Assistent, awaiting further instruction.

"Alright people," Ken said. "We're here for Project Icarus. We don't know if Marzana is here yet so be careful. If she is spotted drop all weapons, that's an order."

"Sir, yes Sir." They all said with a solute.

They heard the soldiers outside.

" _SHIT_ _!_ " Dirk yelled. He grabbed the lead pipe Todd had used to break open the machine and turned back to the door to slide it between the handles, hopefully holding them off. "Blackwing! THEY'RE HERE! Quick! We have to find the portal!"

Todd felt something sharp. Something painful. He screamed and looked down to see a knife stabbed through his hand. "FUUUUUCK, NOT NOW! NOT AGAIN!" 

"ANOTHER ONE?!" Farah shouted and Todd nodded, still screaming. 

"We have to move, can you run Todd?" Dirk looked him in the eyes as if their lives depended on it, because it sort of did.

"Don't have a - _AHHHH!_ choice." 

They heard a loud thumping from the door and looked over to see it shaking. The soldiers struggling to open it. It wouldn't hold much longer.

"Follow me." Dirk began running. Not exactly knowing where he was going, but he had to trust the universe would carry his legs where they needed to go.

And it was anything _but_ a coincidence that the room they went to without knowing it was the bloody hospital room with the plug.

"Why are we _here_ Dirk?!" Farah yelled. Todd continued screaming but it was fading.

"I DON'T KNOW! I NEVER KNOW!" 

"Shit man, I don't like this!" Tina cried and Farah pulled her into a hug. 

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" Dirk yelled. "TINA! HELP TODD. FARAH! HELP ME MOVE THIS COT AGAINST THE DOOR."

Tina ran over to Todd. He sat on the floor. Tina sat down in front of him and moved his head up. "Hey man, look at me." She put her hands on his shoulders, "I know you're used to Dirk helping you out but he's kinda busy." He nodded, still screaming. "I need you to look at me." He nodded, hot tears pooling in his eyes. "I'm real, that isn't."

"You're real..." He shook, "This isn't." 

"You're doing great, just take a deep breath." He slowed his breath, not moving his eyes from hers no matter how tempting it was to stare at the knife impaled through his palm.

Struggling to move the large cot they heard the door in the foyer finally burst. Then they heard Ken shout; "Come out Dirk. It will be so much easier if you just surrender."

But finally, they moved the cot just out of the way to see... "TODD, TINA, I FOUND IT!"

"What?" Todd said, and just like that, the knife was gone. Unsteady, he stood up and began walking over to Dirk and Farah.

"The portal."

He was right, out of nowhere a small pool of glowing water had appeared.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He took Todd's hand. "I do _not_ feel like going back to Blackwing today."


	18. I Am Punk

It was burned into her head, the image of her brother screaming for her help. 

She hadn't had visions or intuitions on where to go for a while, they kinda just started driving and not really caring where. She wondered if the universe had pulled them in the right direction, no it _definitely_ did, because when she pulled up a map on her phone to get directions to Ocean Hill, they discovered they were only four hours away. 

Now, they were only 10 minutes.

"Hold on, Todd. I'm coming." She muttered to herself. "We're almost there."

She hadn't once used the wand. Not once. She never figured she'd need it but right now she found herself frantically digging through the pages of Suzie's spellbook. Writing down any useful offensive spells on one arm and defensive on the other, not marking what they actually did but it didn't matter. She probably wouldn't have to use them... right?

They passed the sign she saw in her vision, just wait a little longer, Todd. We'll be there.

"We're here," Martin said. "Where do we need to go now?" 

"Yeah! What do ya see, Boss?" Vogel asked.

"Right now?" Amanda said. "NOTHING!" She threw her head back against the headrest. "I can't see anything right now. What are we supposed to do?!"

"I think we're the ones supposed to be asking that one," Cross said. 

"Well do you smell anything?" She asked. 

"Nothi- wait... it smells like...." Martin growled lowly. The entire van fell silent for once. That was never good. 

Panicked and flustered she turned around to see the rest of the boys sharing the same look on Martin's face. Anger and slight fear. But they were never afraid.

"Wha rong?" Beast tilted her head.

They were never afraid except when it came to...

"Blackwing." They all whispered. 

"Your brother's a dead man drummer," Said Martin, his voice still low, his head shaking. "Especially if Icarus loves him. They can use him as bait."

"Todd is strong he'll-"

"Dead man."

"We have to try."

"Dead man."

"There's no use Amanda," Cross said.

"We're the Rowdy 3! We don't give up. We never fucking give up."

“You don’t know what it’s like there, Drummer,” Gripps said.

“They starved us last time!” Cross added.

“They’re cruel and they hurt you!” Vogel said.

Martin parked the van on the side of the road. "Amanda, we love you," He turned to her, hands on her shoulders. "And we won't see you get hurt. But sometimes there's a difference between being the Rowdy 3 and being suicidal. We can't just jump into this one."

"You put me in charge. I'm the leader now. We _are_ going to-"

"No." They all said.

She was pissed, to be honest. Completely livid. Not just because they refused to help her brother, but because they were backing down. They never backed down. They were the Rowdy 3, they were fearless! But the fact that they _refused to help her brother_ , that felt like a stab to the heart. 

All she could think about was the image of him screaming for her help. He never did that. This was bad, this was different. And if they could see it they too would surely march into battle. But they couldn't, they couldn't see her thoughts. So she had to convince them.

And one memory resurfaced. A memory of a time when she was done. When she didn't want to push on. And these five words so easily changed her mind. After all, these boys, and Beast, were her family, they were just like her. These five words could change their minds on _anything._

"It's just..." She looked at her lap and shook her head laughing.

"What?" They all looked at her.

And she slowly lifted her head with a mischievous glimmer in her eye. " _I thought you were punk_."

Martin turned his eyes to the road ahead of them and swiftly moved his hand for the shift, yanking it back forcefully. "I am punk." He slammed on the gas, angrily revving the engine and causing the wheels to screech from under them. "Fuck you."

"THERE HE IS!" She gave him a hardy pat on the back. "YOU READY ASSHOLES?!"

"FUCK YEAH!" They raised their weapons of choice in a battle cry.

"FOLLOW THAT SMELL!"

* * *

“Come out Dirk, it would be so much easier if you just turn yourself in,” Ken said, wandering aimlessly through the foyer.

“TODD, TINA, I FOUND IT!” He heard Dirk yell. 

“There they are!” Ken pointed in the direction of his voice and the soldiers ran to the door and began slamming it down but it was stuck.

“Come on Icarus. No need to fight. You don’t want your friends hurt, do you?” The door opened slightly to reveal a blue-green glow. 

“Shit!” Ken yelled, he recognized that glow. “Keep pushing whatever it is out of the way, we don’t have much time before-“

And the glow diminished.

The door finally opened with some effort to reveal an empty room. Well, empty of people. 

“Damn it! God fucking damn it!” Just out of his reach. Always just out of reach. He was tired of this. This wild goose chase, this witch hunt. It felt pointless and maybe deep down he knew it was but he still refused to give up. 

And to make matters worse he heard an engine. A loud one.

“ _WHOOOOO!_ ” Martin screamed as he jumped out of the van and the rest joined. 

“YAHOO!” Came from Cross as a laugh came from Vogel. Gripps just smiled.

“SA-HAVE DE BIBBIT!” Beast yelled. 

“YIPPEE KI-YAY MOTHERFUCKERS!” Amanda took her bat to the headlights of one of the black military vans. The sounds of glass shattering and metal clanging as it was being pushed in was deafening. 

Ken and the soldiers emerged from the door, weapons drawn. “Stand down,” he motioned to them and began walking down the stairs. “Incubus!” He said arms outstretched like an old friend who hasn’t seen them in a long time. They almost expected ‘long time, no see’ to follow but it didn’t.

“Who the _fuck_ are you?” Martin asked.

“My name is Ken Adams, I’m Friedkin’s replacement, who was your old pal Riggins’ replacement.”

“Riggins ain’t no friend of ours,” Martin said. Cross and Gripps grunted in agreement

“YEA-“ Vogel went to chime in but Martin extended his arm over his chest to tell him to stop. He backed off disappointed. 

“Let’s get down to business…” Amanda stepped forward. “Where the _FUCK_ is my brother?!”

“Your brother?” Ken walked towards her, almost too close and Martin snarled.

“Todd.” Her arm shifted to her pocket, ready to grab her wand. Ken took notice of this and backed off slightly. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Todd? He isn’t here.”

“I know you’re lying.”

“He isn’t, that I can swear on.” He crossed his heart, arms in the air.

“You’re here for Icarus,” Martin added. “He goes where he goes.”

This time her wand drawn, “I’ll ask again.” The crystal tip began to glow. “Where.” A step forward, “The fuck.” And another one, “Is he?” Her wand pointed at him and the soldier’s guns raised again.

“I SAID STAND DOWN,” Ken yelled over his shoulder, arms still surrendered. They all obeyed. “He isn’t here. We just showed up, they were in a room one minute, and then they weren’t.”

Her eyes widened as she lowered her wand and whispered, “Wendimoor.”

“How do you know about Wendimoor?” Ken asked, causing her to raise her wand again. “What do you know about Wendimoor?”

“A lot. More than you ever will. Let us through.” She had to get in and find the portal-wherever it was, if it was-and reactivate it. Even if it was just to send the rowdies through to retrieve them. She hoped she could do it herself.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“LET ME THROUGH! PROTESTOS!” The first spell that came to mind from her arm. 

He froze in place, the soldiers drew their weapons once again but with a few more of the same spell, she paralyzed all of them. 

She ran up the front porch, ran in, never minding the giant monster torn through the floor, she didn’t have time for that, and she frankly didn’t want to know what that was all about. She had to find the portal, open it, and find Todd. 

Running through the halls, frantically checking every door. “TODD?! DIRK?! FARAH!?” 

Completely ignoring the horrors that awaited beyond the numerous doors. 

Nothing on this side.

“TODD! DIRK FARAH!” She ran across the foyer again, hopping over missing floorboards.

And then she saw it, an open door. She ran in.

All she saw was blown-out glass, a weird machine, papers, an IV pole and a tossed over cot by the door. There was dry (thank goodness) blood everywhere and her saving grace, a puddle of water in the corner. 

She dove down and touched her hands to the floor in the puddle, focusing intently, searching for her brother when she saw him safely in Wendimoor on the other side of the portal. But she still had to check on him. 

“ _AHHHHH_ !” The pain came sudden and fast, almost too much to handle, but she had to keep going. _I am punk, I am punk_.

Her eyes squeezed shut she could feel something pulling her downwards and quickly opened them to see the portal. “COME ON, I CAN’T HOLD IT MUCH LONGER!” She needed them to get through and get through now. But when she didn’t see or hear them she lost focus and the portal disappeared. _Shit_! She was about to go in again until she heard...

“Impressive show.” _Fuck, it's Ken._ “How did you do that?”

She stood up and walked over to him. “Like I’d tell you, you asshole.”

“And the bit with the wand, let me guess, Wendimoor?”

She flipped him off.

“How did you know Todd and Dirk were here?”

“He told me they’d be here.”

“And you came all the way to Louisiana _after_ they told you they were going here?” He scoffed. “Tell me the truth.”

“That is the truth.” This was ridiculous, how did he know she was lying? She wasn’t going to ask that though, it would prove his point. Where were the rest of the Rowdy 3 when you needed them? Wait… where _were_ the rest of the Rowdy 3? “Where are they?!”

“Where are who?”

“Where are my friends?!”

He ominously smiled. “I have them.” _Fuck._ “And you seem important, I’m going to have you too.” She went for her back pocket to grab her wand when two soldiers entered the room. She successfully grabbed it and looked over to her left arm for something more useful than freezing when Ken snatched it out of her hands. 

“What the fuck, dude?!” He grinned and shook it between his thumb and pointer like a pencil. 

And before he could dodge she moved closer and speedily and forcefully raised her Doc Martens to his balls causing him to collapse and drop the wand which she grabbed.

But before she was able to cast a spell the two soldiers grabbed her arms from either side and restrained her. 

She swung herself forward and then back, slamming her foot on one soldier's toes and her elbow into the other’s gut, not enough to make them fall over but enough to shock them into letting her go. “You guys are like, _seriously_ ruining my beach day.” She frowned sarcastically backing up.

She sensed Ken getting up from behind her. But before he could grab her wand again she punched him in the nose, hearing a satisfying crack as she drew blood.

“Let’s try this again, BORA-" But she forgot about the soldiers behind her. Before she finished the spell, one of the soldiers raised the butt of his gun to her head and sent her into darkness.

* * *

Amanda felt the bright lights shining through her eyelids sting her sore head that was being supported by a very shitty pillow.

She opened her eyes, looking at the plain white ceiling above, clenching her head, and realized her hair was down. _What the fuck?_

Slowly sitting up and looking at her surroundings, a plain white room with nothing but the uncomfortable bed she sat on. She looked at her legs, they were covered in a bulky grey fabric. She pointed her chin down to see she was wearing a grey jumpsuit with a magenta stripe across the bust and a square with a strange triangular symbol over her heart. _No_. _This can’t be…_

“I see you’re awake.” Ken’s voice blared over an intercom. “Welcome to Blackwing Amanda Brotzman. Project name, Chiron.”

She looked up to the ceiling and yelled, “Why am I here? I’m not like them. I’m a normal human!”

“If you’re such a normal human then how come you could use the wand that none of us can.”

“I don’t know, man! Let me out!”

“And it’s not just that. We looked at your information.”

“Oh no!” She brought her hands to the sides of her face. “Now you know my secret! I’m an alien with three asses from the planet FUCK OFF!”

“Says here you have a disease called ‘Pararibulitis’. Runs in your family.”

“Yeah, so?”

“We have reason to believe from past research that when exposed to a specific situation, individuals with Pararibulitis can experience anomalous phenomena. In other words Amanda, yes, you are like them. We just don’t know what sets it off, that’s what you are here for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit...


	19. Old Friends and New Murals

Although Dirk and Todd had been to Wendimoor before and knew what to expect... this wasn't what they were expecting. Well, it shouldn't have surprised them. Everything was weird with this case.

They weren't in the ruins. Well, they had crossed the country after all. And Francis said that he would fix things too. Maybe fixing things involved removing the ruins and building... well, this.

They weren't even sure if this was Wendimoor to be perfectly candid. But a quick glance to the sky above and a smile back to the friendly moon nullified the notion.

Instead of the cracked mossy stone walls, they were greeted with what had to be the world's (the multi-dimension's?) most beautiful garden. 

But they quickly realized that the garden was not a garden but a courtyard. A courtyard to a palace they could only assume to belong to Francis as the walls around them were painted with murals reminiscent of those in the ruins. The flying-purple-people-eater, the boat in the field, the house, and the 'z's. Only a few new ones were added to the mix. One particular one caught their eye. One of a man in a yellow jacket, his friend in a striped shirt and creme jacket, and his sister in a multi-colored hood beside him, all hand in hand, smiling back at them. Ivy and white flowered vines climbed the new stone walls in a sophisticated fashion. A few odd-looking vines with leafy bulks scattered here and there in the mix.

The cobblestone pool sat in the center of the courtyard, elevated off the ground under a weeping willow tree, that, to their surprise but also not their surprise because it's Wendimoore, silently wept into the water below. The sleepy sun in it's golden hour shown through the leaves leaving golden drops on the perfect, untarnished, green grass below. Stepping stones laid a winding path through rows and rows of flowers of all shapes, sizes and hues. Most pink, most delicate roses. Happy daffodils and proud dahlias. Perwinkle and Forget-me-nots sat next to sunny daisies to name a few. A few stone benches with moss creeping up the sides were scattered about in the most oddly perfect places.

“This is Wendimoor?!” Tina yelled in awe.

“Indeed it is Tina, Welcome to Wendimoor,” Dirk said. 

“Holy shit this is awesome!” She spun around, deeply breathing in the fresh floral air.

“This is so cool,” Farah said.

“I think we should find Wakti,” Todd said. “Maybe she can help with my visions.”

“But we should go see Panto and Silas!” Dirk took Todd’s hands. “I’ve missed them, and we should give Farah and Tina a tour! And maybe get some dinner! You have to have a Burgabush burger, Todd!”

“Dirk as much as I would love to have a reunion... we’re on a case.”

“But we’re in Wendimoor and this time their world isn’t at stake! If we need to do something it will happen. Blackwing can’t find us here, I say we take our time.” He gave Todd a peck as insurance. 

“Fine.” He returned the peck.

“YAY!” He turned around to Tina and Farah, “Actually…” He jogged over to the walls and the strange-looking vine and picked four leafy pockets from it. “This,” he handed them out. “Is a Burgabush burger,” he opened his pocket to reveal a burger and showed it around. “They might just be the best burgers I have ever had.”

“Better than Mary’s?” Tina asked doubtfully.

“Don’t tell her… but yes.”

“I’m sold!” She opened her pocket and sunk her teeth in. 

“Tina, sweetie, are you sure that that’s a good idea?” Farah said.

“Nope,” her mouth muffled full of Burgabush burger, “This is a great idea!” She swallowed. “Dirk is right these are the best burgers ever.” 

Dirk high-fived her with his own mouth full of burger. “Come on Todd and Farah, try it!”

“Fine.” Todd opened his leaf pocket and took a bite and he fluttered his eyes shut dramatically. “Shit man, this gave me a food-gasm.” 

“I know, right!” Dirk said as Farah shrugged and cautiously tried the burger.

“Holy shit!” She said. “You were right!”

“I must be dreaming.” A familiar voice said. They all turned around to see their favorite pink-haired-cowboy-prince. “Am I dreaming, my sweet, or do you see them too?”

“I see them, love. But am I dreaming?” Their favorite can’t-sword-fight-for-shit-prince replied. 

“Panto! Silas!” Dirk dropped the burger pockets and ran towards them, sweeping them into a large, sudden, hug. “We were just about to come find you!” 

“Hello, Dirk Gently,” Silas said as Dirk let go. “It’s great to see you again.”

“And if it isn’t the fair maidens Tina and Farah, Knights is Bergsberg.” Panto said. “What do you think of Wendimoor?”

“I like the burgers,” Tina said, mouth still full, pointing to the burger in her hand. Farah laughed.

“That’s it?” She said. 

“What?! They’re amazing burgers!”

“They are pretty good.” Panto said. “Wait, how are you here?”

“Well, you see…” Dirk began. “It all started when after our date Todd’s neighbor screamed and we went to investigate.” He explained at the speed of light. “Then we found all the furniture floating and a message saying ‘help’ burnt into the wall. From there Tina came to help with the case and we found a GHOST! Who turned out to not be a ghost at all but the separated soul as a result of the body-swapping cult I told you about from our first case.”

Silas and Panto darted their eyes back and forth between members of the group to make sure that they were hearing him right. Tina nodded enthusiastically.

“Then the ghost-not-ghost accidentally zapped Todd.”

Silas raised a finger and opened his mouth to interrupt.

“That’s a thing they can do, keep up. And then he had an episode with a vision that told us to go to this mansion in Louisiana. When we got there a lot of stuff happened but that isn’t important as of now. Well, they are very important, everything is important, everything is connected and all that, but you don’t need to know that for now so I’ll get to the point.”

“You haven’t gotten to the point yet?” Silas asked.

“No.” The group said.

“Todd had another episode after he spilled coffee on himself, it was a bad one. His worst yet he said, I hated it. I hate seeing him in pain-“

“Dirk…” Todd nudged him back to earth. 

“Oh right. Anyway, his episode gave him another vision where he saw there was a portal to Wendimoor somewhere in the house but then Blackwing came in and Todd had ANOTHER episode and unfortunately, very unfortunately I couldn’t hold him for that one and so Tina had to help him out. But the energy from the episode opened the portal that we didn’t know was there, well, we _did_ know it was there but we didn’t know it was _there_. At least I think that’s what happened and why it opened. Universe. And then we jumped through and now we’re talking to you.”

“Wait,” Panto asked. “There’s a house that belongs to Louise Anna with a portal? Did they know Francis? How far is Louise’s house from Bergsberg? Down the road?”

“All I remember is you saying you and Todd were dating, did I hear that right?” Silas asked. 

“Yes,” Dirk took Todd’s hand, “And we are very much in love, keep up Silas!”

“I knew it! I knew it from the beginning!” He smiled at Panto. “I said to you, ‘Dirk and Todd would make an excellent couple.’”

“Yes, and I said, ‘Dirk is so clearly head-over-heels for him and Todd is too worried about himself to realize it and make a move.’”

“I’m so glad you found love. You two really needed it.”

“You deserve your own Happily Ever After.”

“Oh!” Dirk snapped. “So glad you brought that up! That’s why we’re here in case you couldn’t tell, you seemed a little lost. Anyway, it’s not a Happily Ever After as of now. Right now it’s more of a… 

‘very unhappy...’

‘during.'”

“It was only a happily ever after for like, what?" Todd said. "A day?"

"But it was a blissful 32 hours," Dirk replied. Yes, he counted them.

"And then the case ruined it."

"RIGHT, THE CASE!"

"Yes, we need to get to Wakti! Can you take us to her? We have no clue where we're going."

"Of course!" Panto said.

"And we can catch up on the way," Silas added and they began on the trek to the sacred forest.

* * *

They could hear the joyful buzzing and whistling of the Bofuki Nepoo as they approached the colorful village. Only barely making it before dark. 

Happy music played as they danced around a crackling fire, feeling the rhythm take hold. 

A loud trill emerged, and another, and then another, and a whole chorus erupted.

"FARSON!" Silas yelled and a head shot up and smiled.

"Silas!" He ran over to Silas, sweeping him into a tight hug. "It has been far too long brother."

"Indeed it has, and look who I brought." And before he could move out of the way to reveal them, the Bofuki Nepoo fell silent and parted to make way for _her_.

"Welcome _back_ to Wendimoor Todd Brotzman and Dirk Gently." Wakti Wapnasi said. "Welcome _to_ Wendimoor Farah Black and Tina Tevetino."

"How does she-" Tina started but Todd shushed her.

"I need your help Wakti." He said.

"You _say_ you need my help. But it is funny. It is really me, and everyone else who needs _your_ help, Todd Brotzman."

"Ok, I don't think I can do that-"

"You _say_ you _think_ you can't, but thinking is temporary. It comes and goes. When you say you think you can't, it doesn't mean you lack the capability. You need to unlock your mind. And _that_ is what you need my help with."

"You really are weird."

"Why thank you." She trilled and the Bofuki Nepoo joined in. 

"How can you help me 'unlock my mind'?"

"Come with me." She extended her arm back to the hut. And Todd started walking, Dirk following. "Only him. It is a journey which he must travel alone."

"But he's going to get hurt. He needs me there with him when he gets his attacks!" 

"It's ok Dirk." Todd grabbed his hand and rubbed his thumb on the back of his hand affectionately with one of those unsure lips-pressed-together smiles. "I have to sit through them, I'm not trying to get out of them. And I know how much it hurts you seeing me like that, you should stay out here."

"Are you sure, love?" He rubbed Todd's arm. 

"Positive, angel." There it was. The name he only calls him when something is wrong. At least so far. He only uses it when someone was upset. But he had to let Todd do his own thing. He knew, as much as it pained him to acknowledge it, that he wouldn't _always_ be there.

"Ok." Todd leaned in for a passionate kiss he had convinced himself was to ease Dirk's nerves, but it was really for him too. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. Dirk pulled back and pressed his forehead against Todd's, their hands resting on each other's necks. He nodded. "Ok."

Todd let go of Dirk's hand and looked back at him long-fully as he walked into Wakti's hut. 

When he could no longer see Todd, Dirk sat down on a log by the fire, sinking his head into his hands. "He'll be ok." He sighed to himself.

"You did well." Panto sat next to him. 

He looked up. "Did I? Because it felt awful."

"Believe me, I know." They sat for a moment in silence, only the drums and the harmonies of the happy Bofuki Nepoo making any sound. "You really love him, don't you?"

"More than anything."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, at this point burgers are like... a running joke in this book. Burgers aren't even my favorite food, not even close!
> 
> And omg I freaking love Pantlas.  
> That's it, that's all I have to say.  
> Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.


	20. Suffering

“He’s my everything, Panto,” Dirk said. 

“I know what you mean.” He glanced over to Silas who was dancing with Tina around the fire with Farson and the Bofuki Nepoo. Farah watched them, laughing. “Did I ever tell you how I met Silas?”

“I don’t believe so, but we kinda had a whole dimension to save.” He shrugged.

“I guess so.”

“Was it love at first sight?”

He laughed. “As much as I’d like to say it, no. But it was still romantic.” He looked over to Dirk and he nodded as if to say, ‘go on.’ “We met in a marketplace. And although I didn’t know Silas was a Dengdamor, my being a Trost is hard to hide.” He pointed at his hair and they both laughed. “So while I looked to him with slight interest, he said, ‘Die Trost scum!’ And drew his sword. The people screamed and ran and I knew he was a Dengdamor. But the interest I felt for him was still deep down, despite me now standing with my sword drawn." 

"He was going to fight _you_?" Dirk laughed.

"Well, he tried," He laughed again. "See... when I first saw him he was just a person, not a Dengdamor or Trost, just Silas. And I couldn’t help think that as I fought him, I found myself going easy on him which we all know was needed. And while he lay there on his back with my boot on his chest I couldn’t help feel intrigued. He looked back up at me and said, ‘Kill me already.’ But instead, I walked away, and he looked back at me and said, ‘Why did you spare me?’ And I said, ‘I do not kill when one has not committed any sins.’ And he smiled, and it entranced me. He said, ‘But I am a Dengdamor. Surely in your mind, I have committed some sin.’ And I said, ‘You’re just a person, Dengdamor, Trost… other. You deserve a chance.’ And I found my cheeks growing hot when he replied, ‘Maybe you Trosts aren’t all bad. And I would like to know this one better.’ No one stood in the marketplace anymore, so I agreed. I told him to meet me at the lake after dusk and the rest was history.”

“You weren’t kidding.” 

“What about you? How did you meet Todd? Was _it_ love at first sight?”

“Oh heavens no! Quite the opposite really. He hated my guts in truth! I had been told by my future self to seek out Todd Brotzman, that he would be my best friend. So I climbed through his window. He absolutely despised me at first but I knew if my future self said he was my best friend and his future self didn’t interject I had to keep trying. And I think I first developed feelings for him, well at least realized it, actually, I probably fancied him way before that. Anyway, I realized it that day we were in the forest… in our world. I told him I was sick of his bullshit, that he isn’t a horrible person, that he was the first person who ever acted nicely to me. I started walking, completely defeated when he looked back at me and said, ‘And Dirk?’ So I turned around and saw the world’s most genuine smile I had ever seen, and he said, ‘I am your friend’.”

“Well _that_ , is definitely the more interesting story.”

* * *

Todd walked into the hut and was greeted with an odd mixture of sounds from creatures in robes and strange masks with glowing eyes. And it was dim, a faint orange glow emitted from the pool in the center. 

“You must open your mind,” Wakti said and put her four hands in the pool. “Allow your consciousness to travel the universe. Allow it to seek the information you need. Come, gather closer. Put your hands into the pool.”

Todd cautiously shuffled closer and extended a finger to slowly touch the surface of the glowing water, a familiar kaleidoscope of all different colors shifted as he moved his hand in. He eased up when he realized it didn’t hurt, he was ok.

“What do you see? What do you hear?”

He closed his eyes. Focusing the way Amanda taught him to, but after a few moments, there was nothing. “Nothing.”

Wakti grunted, almost angrily, and walked behind him, grabbing his elbows and shoved his arms in. He screamed as waves of pain coursed throughout him.

* * *

Dirk heard Todd scream and instinctively stood up but Panto stopped him. “He’s ok.” He said. 

“But-“ Tears in his eyes. 

“He’s ok, he needs to do this. He’ll be fine. He’s strong.”

“Ok… ok.” He sat down. 

“He’s going to be ok.”

“It’s just…” He rubbed his face. “I couldn’t help him with the last one. I wasn’t there.”

“You can’t always be there.”

“But that’s the thing! I always _am_ there. I live above him and I’ll hear him scream and I’ll come down and help him. And even then he has his medication, it goes away almost immediately. But then he’ll still want me there. He asks me to stay, we sit on the couch and watch telly. I’ll hold him in my arms and he’ll fall asleep on my chest… I’m always there, Panto. And I wasn’t last time. Well, I was. But I didn’t help, I couldn’t. And I feel awful.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I was right there, Panto!” He sat silent for a moment before another scream could be heard from the hut and it set him over the edge. He threw his head into his hands and the hot tears rolled down his face. “I was right there, we were running for our lives and he had a knife in his hand! And I was on the opposite side of the room, nothing keeping me from him. And I didn’t help. And now, I’m right here, nothing keeping me from him and I’m not helping.”

“He has to do this. And you know it. All you can do is be here for him when he comes back.”

Dirk nodded and sniffed. “He’s had one hell of a day. Two attacks in a row and now this?”

"Why don’t we do something to take your mind off of it? How does that sound?” 

“That sounds like a good idea.”

* * *

“ _AGHAHHHH!”_ Todd’s eyes squeezed shut. He felt as if his veins became a vacuum. Sucking in from the inside.

He pulled his hands out of the pool with an effort. He collapsed to the floor, sucking in the air furiously as the pain vanished. “I can’t do this, Wakti,” he gasped.

“But you can. You don’t believe you can. But you can be persuaded.” 

“I’m not like Amanda, I’m not special, I don’t deserve this!”

“You’re right.” 

He stood up, brows sinking together. “Excuse me?”

“Amanda is… complicated. You are simple, Todd. She will be the gathering force of the war, chosen by the universe to help. You? You were an accident.”

“What?!” His head spun, not only because of the hyperventilating but because this was all very confusing. What did she mean, _accident_? 

“The universe has a plan… but it doesn’t. Everything is connected, but nothing is also connected. Creation is... and creation isn’t.”

“Ok, what the fuck is happening here?”

“The universe is broken, things aren’t as they were planned. Although the plan _was_ that there _wasn’t_ a plan. Regardless, things weren’t supposed to happen like _this_. This was never supposed to happen.”

“What is,” He gestured vaguely, “‘This’? What is happening?! Is Amanda like Dirk? Am _I_ like Dirk?”

She laughed as if it were an obvious answer. “No one is like Dirk, Dirk is Dirk. You are Todd. Amanda is Amanda.”

He facepalmed. “Are we connected to the universe, is what I mean.”

“Everyone is connected to the universe. Some more than others. To answer the question you seek, Amanda is not anomalous. And you aren’t like Amanda. You were never supposed to see.”

“Then why do I see?” He asked, his voice returned to its normal un-frustrated state.

“Now you are asking the _right_ questions. The disease your body carries connects to your mind in a way not possible by other humans, even beings like Dirk Gently. The disease… well, you’ll find out soon enough. All will be answered soon.”

Todd groaned, he hadn’t expected Wakti to be so difficult. “But I need answers now.”

“The universe will give you what you need when you need it.” She leaned in closer for emphasis. “But for now, I will give you the information you do need.”

“That would be nice, thank you.” He remarked with a hint of disdain.

“Amanda sees more because she is connected to something deeper. By feeding on her, the group you know as The Rowdy 3 unlocked a capability. And from there, her purpose was ignited. She could see deeper, reach farther. She is much more powerful than you know. But she still isn’t exactly like the others.”

“Can I ‘see deeper, reach farther’ then?”

“No. That isn’t your purpose.”

“Then why do I have visions at all?” 

“Amanda possesses raw power that you do not. When exposed to it, she could see what was needed, take people where they needed to be. You? When exposed to it-”

“Exposed to what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Have patience. When you were exposed to it, you do not have that power, It wasn’t supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to be exposed. You see only with your ‘attacks’ and they will always be of less content than your sister’s.”

“So I have to suffer more for less?”

“Essentially, yes.” 

He ran his hands through his hair, paced for a bit, and then sat down on the cushioned seats along the walls, folding his hands. “At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised.” He shrugged and Wakti came to sit next to him and tilted her head. “I’ve always sucked. I was never important, never will be I guess.” He sighed. “I don’t know what I was expecting when I came here. I guess I thought that, maybe, I had a purpose, and that purpose didn’t involve me being an asshole. I guess this is my punishment. I’m only helpful if I suffer.”

“Suffer. An interesting choice of words. To suffer is to feel, to experience. Positives and negatives are constructs, just like the words we speak, just like your word suffer. Suffer does not inherently mean bad. I would say your use of the word is correct. But not in the way you think.”

He turned his head towards her, silent, intrigued. But so done with this hippy-bullshit. 

“Pain is yours. Fear is yours. You own them, they cannot exist without you.”

“But it-”

“Why don’t you like it?”

“Because it hurts!”

“Why does it hurt?”

“I-it it just does!”

“Why? Tell me. How does ‘Pararibulitis’ work?”

“My brain receives sensory input and mistakes it for something else causing painful hallucinations.”

“How does pain work? Why does it exist?”

“To…” His furrowed brows dissolved. His face turned still. Only his eyes moved, his mouth open, stammering, trying to find the words worthy of voicing his epiphany until he decided simple was best. “To tell you that something’s wrong...” Wakti smiled as he slowly rose. “To tell you that something needs to be fixed- _holy shit_!” He laughed, holding his hands over his mouth. 

Wakti trilled and the creatures joined in with their own happy sounds. “Your pain is a reminder. A reminder the universe is broken. You feel- you suffer -it on a deeper level. And while it may be unpleasant you have to understand that is essential. That it happens for a reason. And that reason is to help deliver you to your visions of where you need to go or what you need to do to make things right.”

“Ok. What do I need to do?”

“Put your hands in the pool.” She stood up and extended her arm to it. “Search with your mind. Search through the universe.”

Todd approached the pool, still as nervous as the first time. Only this time he knew what to expect, and this time he knew he had to, and this time... he knew why. 

With a deep breath, he lowered his hands into the water, and at contact, he felt a sting, and another, and another in his arms. Slashing through, little scratches that turned to gashes bleeding out. He screamed and doubled over, bending into the pool instead of away. Focusing on that pain, leaning into it. Allowing it to take over. 

And take over it did. 

He felt as if his mind was pulled under into the pool, dragging his consciousness into a deep lake that extended forever. Almost like a scene down the rabbit hole, catching faint glimpses of things he couldn't recognize, too short to make out. Twisting and turning through the kaleidoscope tunnel, searching for what he needed to see. 

Finally, the shapes enlarged and he heard a screech, a ringing in his ears. And then through the darkness, he saw. He saw a white room. A triangle, and… 

His sister.

She wore a grey and magenta jumpsuit, he had seen something like it before, only where? _Wait… that looks like the jumpsuit Dirk wore when he came out of the trunk!_ Did that mean…

“Welcome to Blackwing, Amanda Brotzman. Project name, Chiron.” Ken said before he snapped back to reality. 

He tore his hands from the pool. “No…”

“What did you see?” Wakti asked. 

“No…” he said, unable to think of anything else. He shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. They had her, they had his sister. And he had to go back. He had to break her out. “No.” 

“What is wrong?” He started walking out of the hut, speechless, his face blank. 

Dirk looked up as Todd emerged. “Todd! How did it go? Are you ok?” But his question was answered when he didn’t respond. “What’s wrong, dear?” He stood up and walked towards him, standing still, staring into the distance. “How are you feeling?” Nothing. He held his hands, Todd still not paying attention. “I’m sure you feel drained, two episodes today plus whatever happened in the hut.” He didn’t respond. “Todd, you’re scaring me.” He pulled him into a tight hug, stroking the back of his head, “Answer me. Please? What’s wrong.”

“They have her.” He choked out, tears finally falling down from his eyes slowly. 

“Who has who?” Still not letting go.

“Blackwing. They have…” He suddenly remembered he had had four attacks today, his legs feeling like jelly fell from under him. Dirk followed, still holding him.

“Blackwing has who?” Dirk struggled to maintain his own composure. 

“A-a-ama…” He had begun crying.

“Who?” Dirk followed in this as well. 

“AMANDA!” He sobbed out.

“They have her?”

“ _Mm-hmm_ ” He nodded into Dirk’s chest.

The rest of the group slowly approached. Farah leaned down. “Blackwing has Amanda? Why? She’s not like Dirk. Or is she? The visions... Are they just holding her or is she-”

“Project Chiron.” He said. 

“Like, the centaur?” Tina asked. They all looked at her, completely confused. 

“Ok…” Farah said.

“I’m sorry, Dirk.” He said, crying. “I’m so so sorry.”

Dirk pulled back and stroked Todd’s cheek with his thumb, lovingly drying his tears. “Don’t be sorry, love. Why are you apologizing?”

“I’m sorry, we have to go back, we have to break her out.”

Dirk sharply inhaled through his nose, “I know. The case is about Blackwing.”

“What?”

“The case. It’s not about ghosts, the cult, or Zackariah Webb, or-or Wendimoor. It’s about Blackwing and though those things are in the case, they’re pieces. I’m not stupid.” They sat silent. “I haven’t _solved_ it yet but I _have_ figured out what the case means, what we’re supposed to do.”

“Wait, if they have Amanda, does that mean they have The Rowdy 3?” Farah asked. 

“Probably,” Todd answered.

“We have to break them out,” Dirk said, shaking. “I know that now, the case is about Blackwing, Blackbook, Oneiroi. They’re all connected, everything is connected. The case is about the downfall of Blackwing. Either that or the universe is sending us all to our tortured demise.”

“Well, I don’t like the sound of that,” Tina said.

“We have to go back,” Dirk said. “Break them out... Although I’m not exactly sure how to do that. Especially since we have Ken waiting on the other side of the portal for us to come back and we need two people to open the portal, specifically Amanda.”

“Francis,” Silas said.

“Yes, he can get you back,” Panto added.

“But we can’t leave now, it’s too dark to get back to the castle,” Silas said. “We have to camp here tonight.”

“Oh good,” Todd sighed, “I’m out of spoons for the day.” 

Dirk brushed his hair out of his face and helped him to his feet. Guiding him to a suitable place to sleep for the night. “Yes. Rest, we’re safe here for now.”

Todd laid down on the colorful bed of soft flowers prepared by the Bofuki Nepoo and Dirk followed. “Thank you, Dirk.” 

Dirk took off his jacket and laid it over Todd’s chest like a blanket and moved closer, wrapping his arms around him for the warmth he lost in giving him his jacket. “Anything for you.” Todd turned over and moved closer, quickly falling asleep after his rough day. 

* * *

Todd awoke under the warm Wendimoore sun to the chirping of the Bofuki Nepoo, Dirk’s arms still wrapped around him, still asleep. He didn’t want to wake his beautiful angel, smiling in his sleep. But his notions of letting him sleep in were shooed away when his smile turned to a frown and he began shaking. 

“No! I’m not psychic, this isn't how it works!” Dirk muttered. 

His nightmares. 

“Dirk, it’s ok. Wake up.” He gently shook him.

“Wrong, wrong, wrong!”

“Dirk.”

“I can’t control it!”

“DIRK!” His eyes shot open, silent he pulled Todd closer. “It’s ok, I’m here.”

“SHIT!” He shot up. “We have to get back to Ocean Hill! Wake up, everybody!” Everyone lazily sat up. “Let’s get moving!”

“Dirk it’s like,” Tina said, groggily. “I don’t know, my phone doesn’t work here. But I know it’s too early for this.”

“Wear a watch!” Dirk yelled. “It’s 6:23. At least I think it is. I don’t know if the time zone is the same, who cares! We’re in another dimension and the time zone we’re supposed to be in it’s 6:23, we’re supposed to be in Ocean Hill!”

“He’s right.” Farah stood up. “Amanda is in Blackwing.”

“She’s not like me. If they tortured me because they didn’t understand how I worked then her being normal… we have to get her out!”

“Ok. Let us start our journey back then.” Panto picked up his scissors sheath and put it on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, I told you Amanda's vision was out of context...


	21. And The World Went Still

Ken sighed, “It’s been almost a day. How long were they in Wendimoor last time?”

“A few days, sir.” One of the soldiers replied. 

“Goddamn it.” He stared at the house, waiting for something to happen... when something happened. 

“Hi, Ken.” A scratchy voice responded from behind him. 

“Hello, Bart.” He turned around. The soldiers raised their weapons at her but he waved his hand to signal them to stand down. Reluctantly, they obeyed. “What brings you here?”

“Do you have Dirk yet?” She had a rifle pointed at him.

“No. He’s in Wendimoor.”

“OH COOL!” She smiled and lowered her gun. “Wendimoor is great. Have you been?”

“Has everyone been to Wendimoor?!” He threw his arms up in frustration but then she returned her gun to pointing at him.

“Oh hi, Bart!” Dirk had emerged from the mansion’s front door behind them and waved enthusiastically. All of the soldiers turned around and pointed their rather large guns at him. “Oh shit. Forgot about that for a moment.”

“Seriously?!” Todd said.

“Hi, Dirk!” Bart said. “I’m here to help you!”

“Mona made it? I knew she could!” 

“Thank you!” She appeared and everyone jumped. “Oh sorry, did I scare you? Can I go back to being a bug again, Bart?”

“Go ahead.” She nodded and Mona smiled as she returned to her moth form.

“Ok, what the fuck is happening here?” Tina asked. “Like, one minute we’re in Wendimoor, the next we’re staring down the barrels of _multiple_ machine guns, the next we’re exchanging pleasantries? Seems to me like we should just run! We could have been out of here by now!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Ken laughed.

“Dirk…” Bart said.

“Yes?”

“You guys should probably duck.”

“Duck?” He raised his brows, narrowly escaping death as Todd quickly pulled him down behind the railing of the front porch, crawling out of the way as multiple gunshots fired their direction.

Bart fired at the speed of light, taking down every soldier there, their bullets dodging her. Ken completely out of the way but she was sidetracked by the new vans approaching, shooting at her. 

Where was Ken? He and Lieutenant Assistant had made their way onto the wrap around porch.

“Come on out, Slvad.” Dirk shuddered at the name from around the corner. “You don’t want your friends hurt, now do you?” Farah motioned for him and Todd to keep making their way around the house, he shook his head furiously ‘no’. 

“I can’t let more people get hurt.” He whispered. “People die when I’m around. I’m not letting anyone else die.” He tried to make his way around the corner but Todd pulled him back.

“We’re on a case, we’re not giving up until we solve it,” Todd whispered back.

“Go! Tina and I will hold them off.” Farah whispered. 

“There you are,” Ken smirked. 

Farah ran forward, eyes filled with rage as she curled her fists inwards before they forcefully landed on Ken’s chin. Tina launched for Assistent and kneed him in the gut, causing him to double over as he grunted.

Ken's mouth filled with the metallic sting of blood. He went for a punch to the face but Farah was too skilled for that. Years of training, Ken had practically nothing but ambition. Scrap that, he only had ambition. 

So before his fist even came close she reached out and stopped it with both hands, twisting it around, and swapped positions with him.

Assistant hurled towards Tina as she ducked, punching him in the balls, sending him back.

Ken rolled his eyes and dove for Farah and in a lucky move, a very lucky one, he kicked her in the stomach. Sending her up with a force and bringing her down to the ground with his arms, immobilizing her while he pulled a taser from his belt.

“FARAH!” Tina turned around after she heard the familiar cracking, she didn’t see her get up. Assistent took this opportunity of distraction to pull out his and tase her from behind, rendering her unconscious.

Hoping to catch them off guard, Assistent and Ken crept towards Dirk and Todd from the opposite direction, and with a nod, they both pulled out a pair of handcuffs from their pockets. “There’s nowhere you can hide now, Svlad,” Ken said, blood dripping from his mouth, adrenaline the only thing keeping him upright. 

And before they could say anything, they yanked Dirk and Todd’s hands behind them.

Dirk squirmed as Ken pulled him back. “Let us go!”

“It’s time to come home, Icarus.”

“You can’t do this!” Todd said as Assistent led them back down the porch. 

“I’m so sorry, Todd.”

“Don’t you fucking dare apologize for these asshats.”

As they descended the front steps they noticed Bart breathing heavily amongst the carnage that resulted from her ability. No one alive, at least 50 bodies, blood spilling down the pavement, the stench of gunpowder and sweat looming over them. Blood drenched her hair and clothes, splattered over her face.

“Give up, Bart. It’s time to go back.” Ken said. 

“I really want to kill you now.” She said.

“But you won’t.”

“I really don’t know anymore, Ken. ‘Cause I feel like if I don’t kill you right now something very bad is going to happen. The universe won’t have it.”

“Bart, killing isn’t who you are.”

“But it is, Ken. I can’t escape it.” She took a deep breath. “It’s like… I’m always surrounded by a constant cloud of death. Everywhere I go, people die. Well, it’s because of me, but still! And you think I enjoy it? No! The people I kill sure don’t. They’re always screaming… and crying… and begging… It’s really not fun actually… And I’m always dirty!” She laughed slightly. “Dried blood isn’t fun.”

“See? You don’t have to do this.”

“But that’s the thing. I do. It’s my purpose, I can’t stray from my path. I’m a leaf in the stream of creation, remember? And the sad part is, I deserve everything coming to me.” Hot tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t ask for this! I never wanted to kill! But I have to! I have no choice.”

“You can come in.”

“No!” She sniffed and raised her rifle again.

“Bart, put the gun down.” He was nervous for the first time. His heart thumping, ready to jump out of his chest.

“You were the closest thing I had to a friend in my entire life.” She sobbed. “But you betrayed me. You hurt people now, Ken.”

“I betrayed _you_?! How do you think I felt living in a car for two months?”

“What?” She whispered in disbelief.

“You left me! When Blackwing came you got out of the car, threw a rock at them, killing a few but you ran away! They took me, they thought I was an anomaly!”

“The universe-“

“Fuck the universe, Bart! You could have helped me! How do you think I felt when you ran away and they had 50 something guns and a TANK pointed at me? How do you think I felt when they tortured me and treated me like I was the plague? How do you think I felt when you refused to come in and instead went with that ‘Pinto’-“

“Panto.”

“‘Panto’ guy you’ve only known for a short amount of time?!”

“What do you think I was supposed to do? Come in and be your friend again after you sent in Mr. Priest? You treated me like you did in the beginning, like I was dangerous, not your friend.”

“I still am your friend.”

“NO! You’re a horrible person, you’re evil!”

“Bart, please.” He began crying himself.

“The only thing I ever wanted was a friend. Someone who cared about me. And for the first time in my life, I laughed, I smiled. It didn’t feel hopeless. All because of you.”

“We can still have that.”

“You threw that option away a long time ago.”

He shook his head. “Please, Bart.”

“I’m sorry.” She cried.

“Bart?” His voice soft, one last plea, one last word, one last name, a declaration of friendship lost. 

She cocked the rifle with a click and aimed it between his brows. She was suddenly made aware of how heavy the gun was, her hands trembling, that was new.

“Goodbye, Ken.” She choked out as she pulled the icy metal trigger and fired. The shot ringing out in her head before being drowned in a sea of thoughts that muffled its effects.

The world went still, instant regret hit her like an arrow to the chest as she watched her bullet slowly fly through the air, taking it’s leisurely time to make sure she felt every spark inside her snuff out one by one. Heartache and anguish taking complete hold as each light diminished. All went silent except for her heartbeat thumping in her ears. It felt like eternity. 

All she could see was red, the sight familiar, her perpetual state of being, the blooming carnation of blood spraying from his head. 

But this time it was different.

Bart screamed the second his body fell limp and hit the concrete. She dropped her gun and ran to him.

She dove to the ground and took him into her arms, sobbing over his lifeless body as she rocked back and forth. “I’m sorry, Ken. I’m sorry!”

The happiest days of her life were over. She missed driving in the car and laughing and singing with him. She missed sharing knowing looks. She missed the adrenaline of narrowly avoided death and the laughs that came after. Hell, she missed their talks at Blackwing! 

She missed his smile. She missed his voice. She missed _him_. 

But he was gone, he left a long time ago, she knew that. But she still couldn’t help it.

Because for the first time in her life, she wished she hadn’t killed somebody.

“Bart…” Dirk said soothingly, “I’m really sorry, and I really hate to interrupt your goodbyes and grieving and all but... we’re still in handcuffs, and there’s still one more guy here.”

“Right, right. And I’m _not_ grieving.” She sniffed. “So…” She looked up at Assistent, “You gonna give us the keys, or do I have to kill you too?”

“I’m going to give you the keys.” He pulled them out of his pocket and tossed them to her. 

“Thanks. And I’ve got a message, ‘brace yourselves, Marzana is coming and she’s not holding back anymore.’ Ok, you can go now.” She figured they already knew, might as well make them think they have a head start. False sense of security and all that. 

Assistent ran to one of the completely destroyed vans which by some miracle, turned on and he drove away. 

“Why did you spare him?” Dirk asked.

“I don’t know, felt important.” She responded with a shrug of her shoulders.

“You really saved our asses,” Todd said. “Thanks, Bart.”

“Don’t mention it… like seriously… don’t. I don’t want to think about this day ever again.” They both nodded and she dug through Ken’s pockets to find the keys that would release Dirk.

As she unlocked them, Farah and Tina slowly got up, clenching their heads.

“What did we miss? _Oh_ …” Tina said before her wobbling legs gave out from under her and she fell, narrowly breaking her fall on the porch railing.

“Do you guys need to go to the hospital or something?” Todd jogged towards them. “Any broken bones? Concussions?” He helped Farah up and made sure Tina was ok.

Farah grunted. “I don’t think anything’s broken. How you feeling, sweetie?”

“Shit,” Tina responded. “Don’t think anything’s broken either.”

“Let’s get back to the hotel,” Dirk whined, “I have _blood_ on my jacket!”

“We can’t have that now can we?” Farah mocked him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying...
> 
> Feel free to hate me all you want, but it had to be done... they were setting it up in the show anyway...  
> But if I had to kill him, I would do it in an emotionally satisfying way and I hope I succeeded in that.
> 
> No joke though, I actually cried writing this. Doesn't help that I was listening to Desert Song by My Chemical Romance either.


	22. Absolutely

It had been an eventful day, to say the least. And frankly, they were all quite done. But they had to come up with some sort of plan. 

They went back to the hotel to clean up a bit, mostly Bart. And don’t worry, Dirk’s jacket lives to see another day. 

Tina lent Bart some clothes and helped her get the blood out of her hair. 

Todd was still drained, to be honest, completely done with everything, and Dirk helped him out like old times. They cuddled in their bed, Todd laid on Dirk’s chest while he absent-mindedly stimmed by rubbing a piece of Todd’s hair between his pointer and thumb. They shared earbuds listening to a playlist of Todd’s creation. One he made for Dirk a long time ago, one he never shared until recently, very recently, a week ago recently.

He actually made it while he was on the road with Farah, after he lost him. He felt guilty about it back then, sure they never really were _official_ at the time, but if he ever did anything with Dirk, which was impossible then but still, Farah would be mad. Regardless, that playlist existed on his phone, and he listened to it in secret, wallowing in his feelings, longing to be in Dirk’s arms, to see his smile again, to be thrown into life-or-death situations with him again. The last of which was a little strange... but still true. 

He filled it with songs that reminded him of Dirk, like “Dance Apocalyptic” by Janelle Mone or “Sweet” by Cigarettes After Sex. Or the ones that made him the most self-conscious, love songs. Songs like “Last Night on Earth” by Greenday or “Lost Without You” by blink-182. And of course, songs to cry to about his hopeless feelings, “Northern Downpour” by Panic! at The Disco or “Someone Out There Loves You” by My Chemical Romance. But a week ago, eight days to be precise, those songs of the last category left the playlist, he had him now.

It was pure bliss. (despite the events of the past week) Being able to finally act on how he felt for Dirk was complete ecstasy, it was unparalleled. 

So for now, they would enjoy this perfect moment in each other’s arms, forgetting about the world, forgetting about their problems, forgetting about the case.

“THE CASE!” Dirk shot up and Todd rolled over slightly. 

“Did you solve it?” Farah swiftly turned her head over in their direction. Tina and Bart popped their heads out of the bathroom. 

“...No.” Dirk said and they all slouched at his answer, sighing lightly and turning away before he added, “But I think I have an idea… A plan.” He raised his eyebrows with a smirk.

“Ok. Shoot.” Farah said. 

“What if… we sent Mona and Bart in? She could break out the Rowdy 3 and then with Bart they would be unstoppable.”

Mona, who was back in her stress toy form turned to a human to interject. “No! I’m not just some plot tool used to break people out!”

“But you broke me and Bart out,” Dirk argued.

“I’m just one person, I can’t do everything. This is why I don’t like being a human,” She pouted.

“It would be what’s easiest,” Todd said.

She grunted and threw her hands in the air. “Why do you think I only broke Dirk out, not the Rowdy 3. I only agreed last time because you needed a messenger. Which, by the way,” She added. “I did not appreciate. None of you noticed me? Rude.” She asked Farah, Todd, and Tina.

“How were we supposed to?” Tina asked. 

“And you!” She pointed at Todd, “You almost squashed me last week!”

“When?” He made his classic Todd confused face.

“The day you got together with Dirk, I landed on your shoulder to help reassure you because you were freaking out and you swatted me away!”

“That was you?!”

“It was fairly obvious,” Dirk added. 

“No! It was _literally_ not obvious.”

“So if we can’t do that, what do you suggest?” Dirk asked Mona.

“How about we _all_ go.” She said. 

“Where even _is_ Blackwing?” Farah asked. “How are we going to get there?”

“It’s in the desert,” Bart butted in. “Nevada I think.”

Todd began laughing uncontrollably.

“Why is that funny?” Dirk asked.

“So Area 51 actually does have cool stuff!” Tina said, giggling. “Maybe not aliens but still.”

“How are we going to get there?” Farah asked.

“I could turn into a jet. Seems the fastest option.”

“That could work, that could work,” Dirk stood and started walking to the door. “We leave immediately.”

“Dirk, We have to pack,” Todd said.

“Right. We leave after we pack.”

* * *

Mona was surprisingly, or not surprisingly- how _does_ she work? If she turned into a plane does that mean she’s good at flying or does she need to know how to fly in human form? It was very strange. Either way, she was good at flying, or average, basically, no one was in danger… yet.

The ground below them was a depressing tan and the gusting winds flew hopeless dirt in swirling patterns a few inches in the air. Mona had disguised herself as a military jet, hopefully, it was good enough to fool Blackwing.

But as they grew closer, Dirk visually sunk. His face still and cold, deep in thought. His eyes dark and glossy, fighting back tears. He moved his jacket zipper up and down as he rocked back and forth slightly, chest rising and falling at a faster than normal rate.

Todd reached over for one of his hands and he stopped fidgeting. “You gonna be ok?” 

“I have to be, I guess.” He turned his hand over, taking Todd’s hand into his, squeezing it gently. “I just have a very bad feeling about this.”

“What do you mean?” He lowered his brows together.

Dirk sighed, “Hunch. Something is going to go wrong, things are going to end badly.”

“We can’t be sure about that.”

“But my hunches are never wrong. You don’t know what it’s like there.”

“It’s going to be ok. We’ve got this, we’ve got Bart.” He gave him an empty smile meant to reassure him, but it of course didn’t work.

“I can’t go back, Todd.”

“I know, angel.” 

There it was.

Todd’s eye picked up a small box out the window beside Dirk. A large sign of a green alien holding a burger stood next to it. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Ok…”

“What if, the rest of us go in and you stay behind at that diner over there?” He pointed out the window, Dirk turned his head over to look out the window before rolling his eyes and turning back to him.

“Todd, you can’t expect me to stay behind while you guys walk into literal, non-literal, hell.”

“That’s my point. You clearly have PTSD. I’m not going to make you go through this again if I can help it.” 

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You were stimming.”

“Stimming doesn’t always mean I’m stressed.”

“No duh, but you are." He was right. “That was stressed stimming, I can tell.”

Dirk fought a smile, Todd knew him well. “But I’m not letting you-”

“I’m not letting _you_ go through a traumatic experience if I can help it. And I can. You stay behind.”

Mona landed after overhearing their conversation. She released Dirk’s seatbelt and opened her door. 

“Are you absolutely sure?” Dirk stood out of his seat.

“Absolutely. I’ve got Farah, Tina, Bart, and Mona, they’re badasses, I’ll be fine.” 

“Ok, then.” He leaned down over Todd for a kiss goodbye and began out the door, “Just double-checking, you haven’t changed your mind?”

“Go. I’ll be fine. It’ll all be ok.”

“Ok. See you soon, love.”

“See ya, Dirk.” They all waved, Dirk waved back before leaving the plane completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you be interested if I made the playlist Todd described? Obviously, there would be more songs than just those.


	23. If You Want Something Done Right...

Bright multicolor lights flashed on her plain walls. “Awake. Awake. You are awake.” An annoying voice said over the intercom. With its sheer volume it was right, how could Amanda not be awake?

She covered her ears with her pillow, hoping it would go away, but it didn’t. Did she have- “Prepare for testing, Project Chiron. Day two.” Yes, she did.

In one day, she already learned all she needed to know about this place. It was evil.

And today was no different. Today they extended to heights she didn’t know possible. 

Yesterday started off with refusing her medication, giving vomit-inducing food. Then they gave her a tattoo on her shoulder blade, of what? She didn’t know. She’d always had a plan of the exact ink on her body and this just fucked the whole thing up, but with her life? Seemed standard. Plus, on the bright side, it would make a cool conversation piece if she ever got out. “Oh, this? This is from the time I was held captive by the government against my will despite the fact that I hadn’t committed any crimes… that they knew of. They thought I was magic. Yeah, fun times.” 

Then came your standard run of the mill torture, poking, prodding, burning, shocking, waterboarding. You know... the basics. And at this point in her life, it didn’t phase her. Her mind had given her situations much much worse.

Dirk was right. They really don’t know how this works because, despite the torture and no medication, she didn’t have a single attack or vision. 

So? After all of that, they locked her in her room for the night. “This concludes today’s testing. You have done a- very bad- job.” 

And today was no different. Except today, they extended to heights she didn’t know possible. 

A group of guards with guns opened the door. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly walked towards them. 

The halls were dark, cold, and empty. Same as yesterday. 

They led her to a plain room that housed a familiar machine, a screen, a small chair in the corner, and a one-way mirror.

As they strapped her into the machine she said, “It doesn’t work like this. The visions come when I need them.”

A woman in a navy blue pantsuit with red hair pulled back into a bun walked in as the guards put gelled patches with cords on her head. “Well, I would say you need them now.” She said.

“Where’s Ken?” 

“Supervisor Adams is dead.” She sat in the chair facing her and sighed. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

“Look, lady. I don’t think you get it. Torturing me won’t get you anywhere.” She received a small shock from the machine and jumped.

“I don’t think _you_ get it.” She stood up and slowly walked to Amanda. “We will do whatever it takes to get what we need.” She pulled a remote out of her blazer pocket and pressed a button, causing the machine to give her an even bigger shock. 

Her body buzzed with pain, but it wouldn’t give in despite her being almost 24 hours off of her medication cold turkey. “This- _AH_!” Another shock. “Won’t-” Another one. “Work.”

The woman’s green eyes stared at her cold, unblinking. She held the remote up again and turned the dial up all the way and stood only inches from Amanda. “It will. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Fuck you.” She spat in her face and immediately received a shock of punishment, unlike any she had received yet. Her body tensed at the electricity, feeling her nerves convulse, like something pinched all of them at once, the pain was almost too much but her body still refused to give in and provide a vision.

“Interesting.” She raised her brows and turned to the mirror and gave some sort of signal to the people undoubtedly behind it. “Let’s try something new.”

The screen in front of her turned on and showed a dark room with four holes in the ground, a glowing fog emitting from them. A loud clanging of cranks and a light jingle of chains came from the speakers and filled Amanda’s room. _No_.

From the pits came Martin, Vogel, Gripps, and Cross. They slowly raised their heads. 

“Feeding time, boys?” Martin asked and they all smiled. 

Only no one came from the platform after a moment and it was clear there was no one they would be eating today. Their smiles were quickly replaced with grunts of pain as they received their own shocks.

“What are you doing to them?!” Amanda yelled.

“Drummer?” Martin’s face turned to confusion. 

“Wait? They can hear me?”

“Clear as day, ‘Manda. Why are you here?” He asked before the pits below them erupted into flames, far enough from them that they were safe but close enough to heat their skin painfully. And the mixture of this and the increasing voltage of the shocks were enough to pull a scream from Vogel. Their bodies twitched above the flames.

“STOP IT!” Amanda cried and pulled on her restraints but it was no use. Another shock followed.

“We read that attacks can be caused not only by physical destress, but also emotional.” The woman said. 

“NO!” She squirmed from under the straps before being put in place with a zap. Her eyes blurred with tears and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t see. And it wasn’t long after that she descended into an attack.

* * *

Dirk sat on the barstools in the front of the aptly alien-themed diner, practically empty other than him and an old couple in a booth in the back. The only sounds their softly clanging forks, the sizzle of the grill behind the counter, and a quiet, somber song playing through the speakers. _Perfect_ , he thought. _Just perfect._ A perfect sad song to fit his un-perfect sad mood. He stared at his burger and chips in the basket that sat below him, grinding his teeth together.

He couldn’t help but feel guilty. If he weren’t so obvious with his emotions he would be with Todd now, helping him and Farah, Tina, Bart, and Mona. They’d be a super action strike team. 

But no. He just _had_ to be all emotional. Screw trauma and shit. Damn it, Dirk. Always so obvious and over the top.

What if Todd didn’t want him there because he screwed things up? Is he just a liability getting in the way? Did Todd… did Todd not like him? No, Todd loved him. _You’re just spiraling, Dirk. He loves you. Stop spiraling._

“You ok there, buddy?” He looked up to see a young waitress over him with a sweet, kind face.

“Me?” He pointed at himself and she nodded. “Me? I’m fine. Perfectly fine, that’s me. Always fine. You know, they always say, ‘That Dirk, he’s the one that’s always fine.’”

“Ok, so you’re definitely not fine.” She walked around the counter and sat next to him, resting her chin on her hand. “What’s bothering you?”

“It’s really complicated, actually. Long story,” he stretched out his arms for emphasis. “One you probably wouldn’t believe.”

“Are you one of those conspiracy theorists we always get around here?” She perked up, interest and curiosity shining through her caramel eyes. “I’m sure whatever you have to say is not the strangest thing I’ve heard.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself to be a conspiracy theorist,” he shrugged. “At least I don’t think so. Some would definitely classify me as one but they just haven’t seen what I have.”

“Ok.” She rubbed her hands together and leaned in. “Try me.”

“My name is Dirk Gently, I’m a holistic detective, I don’t solve cases with classic, textbook clues, and tools because the universe tells me exactly what I need to know when I need to know it. This place called ‘Area 51’ is actually not a place where they hold aliens but a government branch under the CIA called ‘Blackwing’ where they hold people like me, people connected to the universe. I grew up here, lots of torture, not fun. I and my friends are here to take them down and rescue my boyfriend’s sister and her friends.”

“Ok, you win.” She laughed. “Was not expecting that.”

“I told you it was mental.”

“Still. It’s somehow more believable than some of the shit I’ve heard from drunk tourists on Tuesday nights.”

“Oh yes,” he chuckled. “Those are all completely bonkers. I haven’t met any aliens…at least not yet. Who knows? I have met people from an alternate dimension, and been to an alternate dimension, twice, same one, two separate times, and I have met Thor-”

“Thor?”

“Yes. He’s not nearly as handsome as people say.” He rolled his eyes.

“So if you’re here with your friends to take down this ‘Blackbird’-”

“Blackwing.” He corrected.

“Right… If you’re here to take them down, why are you _here_?”

“Because Todd wanted me to stay behind because of my trauma that stems from my torturous childhood.”

“Who’s Todd?”

“My boyfriend, keep up.”

“The boyfriend whose sister was taken by them?”

“Yes, that boyfriend!”

“He sounds like a good boyfriend if he let you stay behind.”

“He’s the best.”

“Why are you upset then?” He sighed and his face turned to a frown. The question he didn’t want to answer. Probably because he didn’t really have a logical answer himself.

“Because he’s going without me all because of... well, me.” 

“I thought it was a good thing that you weren’t going.”

“I guess you could say that. I would really rather not be there, but I feel guilty.”

“Well… if you feel guilty... maybe you should go?”

“Maybe I should. Yes. I should.” He smiled and stopped slouching. “I should definitely do that. I probably feel guilty because I should.”

“Ok then!” She smiled back.

“You know what? I think the universe sent me you for a reason. Yes. Thank you, universe.” He said to the sky. “You have been a massive help. The world of anomalies will forever be in debt of-”

“Sarah, Sarah Couch.”

“Couch…” He let out a single laugh.

“Rude.”

“No! No, not at all! It’s just… everything is connected.”

“What?” She tilted her head and shook it off. “Never mind. Just glad I could help.”

He dug through his pockets and pulled out some cash for the food and a large tip. He never understood why Americans couldn’t just pay their employees more. “Keep the change.”

“Thank you so much, sir.” He got up and began running out the door before she yelled back at him. “You haven’t even touched your food, do you want me to get a take out bag?”

“No!” He shouted with the door hanging open “No time! I’ve got a world to save- or day… Not exactly sure if the world is at stake in this one. I don’t think it is at least, never mind that! I’ve got… I’ve got people to save! I’m coming, Todd!”


	24. Three Seconds to Change The Course of Fate

“So what’s the plan?” Farah turned to Todd as Mona descended.

“We need a plan?” Bart asked.

“Yes.” Todd, Tina, and Farah all said.

“How are you on ammo, Bart?” Tina asked. 

“Meh, figured we could break into a weapons room first.” She responded.

“Great,” Farah said sarcastically. “Do we know where that is?”

“No clue.” They all grunted at the response. “Figured the universe would take me to it. I’ve got enough ammo to get there.”

Mona opened her doors and they all stepped out to see the large facility. They began running to the closest entrance and Mona transformed into her human form and followed.

“Hey,” The guard said. “You’re not supposed to-”

“Yo.” Bart cocked her gun and he fell to the ground with a single shot.

Todd took the keycard off of his chest and opened the door.

“This way,” Bart said as she ran in front of the group.

They crept through the halls. Surprisingly, and alarmingly, there weren’t any guards yet. It was quiet, too quiet.

Bart took the card from Todd and opened a door that led to a room full of guns of all different sizes. That was easy. Too easy.

She took a large gun from the wall, Farah grabbed a slightly smaller one and Tina went for what was most familiar, a small handgun. Todd looked around for anything that he could use but it was all guns, he had never held one before and he didn’t trust himself with one in a heavy situation like this. And he didn’t think Farah would trust him with one either.

“We ready, motherfuckers?” Tina said in a deep voice and put on a pair of sunglasses that hung from her shirt collar and held her gun in a _Charlie’s Angels_ pose.

“Sweetie... what the _fuck_ was that?” Farah laughed and Tina released her pose.

“I don’t know, felt cool.” She flipped the sunglasses onto the top of her head. “This is like, the most badass I’ve ever been.”

“You’ve got a handgun,” Todd said.

“And you don’t have anything.” She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed.

“We don’t have time for this.” Said Bart. “We’ve got shit to do or whatever.”

They walked through the halls, following Bart and Mona’s lead. They still hadn’t encountered anyone. And everything was fine until-

“Alert. Alert.” A booming voice filled the space and flashing lights began. “Intruder Alert. Body found at gate thirteen.”

“Fuck.” Todd muttered under his breath. 

“Get behind me,” Farah ordered and he nodded, following her directions.

“Mona?” Bart asked. “Can you go and find The Rowdy 3? Come back when you’ve found them.”

“Got it!” She turned into her moth form and took off.

And it wasn’t long before four armed guards made their way to them.

Farah backed Todd up to a wall, keeping him out of the way of harm. Bart took down three no problem until it hit her. 

She killed Ken. She killed her best friend. This was her fault.

She wasn’t exactly sure how it was her fault but it was. She shouldn’t have killed him. No, then Dirk and Todd would have already been taken in. She should have killed him sooner before she grew attached. No, then he wouldn’t fix the machine, and then who knows what would have happened. She should have killed him after that? No, then she already was attached. She should have killed him in one of his visits? No, then all of this would have happened sooner and no one would be getting out. All of this happened this way for a reason, that was how the universe worked. But she still felt bad about all of this. She felt guilty. But why?

And in her lament, she forgot about the last guard. 

It all happened very quickly, probably about three seconds. She shot at the guard and missed. She only missed when something was or wasn’t supposed to happen. She never missed. The guard wasn’t supposed to die. 

Next, only a millisecond later, the guard lined up her to Tina’s heart. In seeing this she narrowly dove out of the way. But it wasn’t enough, in fact, she didn’t realize she had been shot until she felt a dozen wasp stings in her upper-left arm, all in the same spot. She dropped her gun and instinctively applied pressure, the remaining adrenaline leaving her body as she shouted, “Damn it! Not again.”

And all of Farah’s training went out the window after she saw her girlfriend shot, exposing the gunless Todd as she yelled, “TINA!”

And in the exposure of Todd, the guard aimed for him and shot at the exact moment Bart shot at her. 

The bullet exiting the barrel of the gun after the guard fell, hitting Todd in the right shin.

His wound was a lot more noticeable than Tina’s. While hers was merely a flesh-wound, his dug through the bone marrow of his tibia, blood soaking his jeans.

He screamed and fell, his leg unable to support him. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, BART?!”

“I don’t know!”

“Why the fuck did you hesitate?” Farah yelled from Tina’s side

“Because she’s worthless.” A red-haired woman in full protection with four more guards emerged from around the corner. “Come in, Marzana. You’ve caused enough pain.”

“I-”

“Your friends are hurt because of you.”

“Don’t listen to her.” Todd choked out through his gritted teeth.

“You killed your best friend and now people are hurt. All because of you.” The woman said.

"I guess they are.”

“Bart,” Farah said sternly. 

She waved her off. “This is my fault.”

“That’s right.” The woman said.

“Kill her, Bart.” Tina pleaded. “We can still get out of here.

“I deserve this.”

“Yes. Come in, Bart.”

She deserved this. She deserved to be locked away for the rest of her life. “Ok.”

“You better be joking,” Tina said.

“No.” She responded and dropped her gun.

“Please!” Farah begged. “Don’t do this. We can still get Amanda and the Rowdies and get out.”

“You do that without me.” She extended her arms for the guards to take and looked over her shoulder to the group on the ground. “I’m going in.”

“BART!” Todd yelled as two guards came and took him.

More guards came and escorted Farah and Tina out of the building, throwing them into the desert.

Todd’s eyes blurred with pain as he watched Bart and the guards walk away, it wasn’t long before he slipped out of consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT?!  
> The thing about DGHDA is no one is safe, ever. 
> 
> I'm so sorry that the recent chapters have been short. But I know that chapter 26 is going to be very, very long. 
> 
> The book is coming to a close and I am so so excited to announce that I will be writing a sequel to DGATGOT. And it is going to be very different. DGATGOT is very serious, it's more focused on answering questions and wrapping up the plot of the show. And when I tell you I am going to answer everything soon, I mean EVERYTHING.  
> And so with everything being answered in this book, it leaves open time to go batshit and bring that season 2 energy in its wildness and season 1 energy in its craziness and all over the place-ness. You know what I mean?  
> Basically what I'm saying is with all the questions answered in this book, the next book will have time to go off the walls and be more playful.  
> That's all I can say for now. Except I have one question, should I bring back Tina in the next book? I feel my writing has suffered a bit with the number of characters and the next book will bring in more originals so I need that space... let me know what you think.


	25. The Bargain of Stupidity

Dirk ran, and ran, and ran to the base. The universe carrying him where he needed to go, adrenaline fueling his never-ending sprint. And it wasn’t long before he came face to face with a rather large fence, and through the holes in the wire, he saw two figures on the ground close to the facility. A darker and a lighter one, they looked almost like… 

“Farah? Tina? Is that you?!” He yelled as he climbed the fence, never mind the barbed wire at the top.

Despite what you may have guessed, Dirk was not in fact, bad at climbing fences. It was a desperate, awkward attempt at flirting with Todd when he couldn’t climb the fence back in Springsbourogh. 

He jumped down and ran to the blobs in the distance. It _was_ them. 

“Dirk? Why are you here?” Farah asked as she tore the bottom of her shirt. “Never mind, I’m glad you’re here. Shit went down.”

“Oh my _God_ , Tina! You’ve been shot!” He kneeled down next to her.

“No shit, Sherlock.” She winced.

“Tina...” he said slowly as if talking to a three-year-old-Martian, “I’m not Hobbs. It’s me, Dirk.” He turned to Farah, “How much blood _has_ she lost?”

Farah shook her head and just wrapped the fabric around Tina’s arm. 

“Wait,” His face turned white. “Where’s Todd? And Bart? And Mona?”

“Bart turned herself in,” Farah said as she tied off the fabric. “They captured Todd, he was shot too. And a lot worse than Tina,” Dirk nearly fainted before she added, “No! Not fatal though, he’s definitely going to make it. Mona? Not sure where she is, they threw us outside.”

“OK!” He jumped, “Let’s go, let’s go get Todd and-”

“Dirk,” Farah said softly. “We don’t have any weapons, any way in, any way out. It’s just us.”

“We can-” The hopeful lights in his eyes faded. Was it really over?

“I’m sorry, Dirk. We can’t, at least not now.”

“We-we can get Mona, an-and-”

“We don’t know where she is, we don’t have a way in.”

“We-I-us? Todd…” His Todd, his love, his light, subjected to a life or torture and heartache. No way out. Each day a draining the soul from your body until you were a shell of hopeless fear. 

Dirk was used to it. All of it. Todd? Poor Todd. Scared, alone. He had no idea of what would come, they would break him. Dirk? He was already broken.

That’s it. He was broken, Todd wasn’t. He knew what he had to do.

“They want me.”

“What?” Farah whispered.

“They want me. They think I’m the most important one.” He took a deep breath to regain his composure. “I’ll turn myself in for the rest of their freedom. They don’t care as long as they have me.”

“Dirk,” Tina looked up at him, “You’re seriously not considering-”

“I love him. I’ll be damned if they take everything from him on my watch.”

“It’s Blackwing,” Farah said. “You really think they’re just going to let everyone else out for one person?”

“What choice do we have?” He began walking to the door and looked back at them. “You can break me out with Bart later. Do you trust me?”

“It’s not a question of trust, Dirk,” Tina said. “It’s a question of are you stupid?”

“Do you trust me?” He looked at them sternly, he meant business. He never meant business. Actually, come to think of it, it wasn’t a stern look. It was a look of heartbreak.

Farah sighed, there was no reasoning with him. Dirk does what Dirk wants. “Ok.”

Dirk took a deep breath as his fist hesitated in the air in front of the door. He looked back over at them for assurance, which he didn’t receive, but he knocked anyway. Nothing. He pounded. Nothing. He slammed his body against the door.

“Goddamnit, somebody let me in!” This worked.

A guard opened the door, his gun in between Dirk’s brows. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Dirk raised his arms in surrender, “My name is Dirk Gently, Project Icarus, I’m here to bargain.” 

The guard grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, gun still pointed at his head as they ventured further in. The door closed sealing off his last view of the sun.

“I have a crazy brit claiming to be Project Icarus with me,” the guard said into the transmitter on his chest. “Says he’s here to ‘bargain’, over.”

“Crazy brit?” A muffled voice came from the speaker. “Bring him in, room 114, over.”

“Room 114, on my way. Over and out.”

They continued walking until they reached a door that led to a plain room with a table, he was already regretting his decision. _Stupid Dirk, always making rash decisions_ , he thought. And at that table sat two stools on opposite sides of the table, and on one of those stools sat an angry-looking ginger woman.

“Take a seat, Icarus.” Her voice matching her evil appearance.

He obliged and sat on the uncomfortable stool.

“My name is Wilson, as you know, Adams is dead. I am his replacement. Why _are_ you here by will?”

He felt a lump in his throat, words building up at an obscene rate but refusing to spill out. Whatever was said next was sure to be an incoherent mess of jumbled anxiety. “I-I uh… Look. You have my friends, you have my boyfriend and his sister, they aren’t like me so... let them out?”

She stared at him blankly. His heart swelled up and he felt its beats pounded in his head.

“I’m the one you want right? Me, Project Icarus, Dirk Gently, Svlad Cjelli. I’m the one who holds everything together.” He paused. “So... here’s my offer. I will come in, you let Todd, Amanda, The Rowdy 3, and Bart out. If not all of them at least Todd and Amanda, they aren’t like me. They have a disease, they aren’t holistic or anomalous, or magic, they’re just simple, normal, sick people. Just please,” His eyes welled with hot tears until they spilled over. “Let Todd go.”

Wilson sat silent for a moment, thinking his offer over, before leaning over the table. “Here’s the thing, ‘Dirk Gently’. You didn’t think this through, did you?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

She stood up and walked around him, like a vulture circling its meal, and like a vulture’s prey, he certainly felt dead. Dead, rotten, worthless, forgotten. A lump of goo spilling over the chair, a lump of goo only capable of thinking and talking. A stupid, sentient, lump of goo.

“You’re already here, you walked right in.”

She stopped pacing and stood behind him while his eyes were glued to the wall in front of him. Paralyzed with fear. She leaned down and curled her fingers over his shoulders like an old hag, whispering in his ear. “We have you, you can’t escape.” She let go and walked in front of him, drinking up the horror that shown through his crystal eyes.

Her voice raised to its normal volume as she sat down. “It would be rather stupid to let anyone out when we can just take you.”

“But-”

“Welcome home, Project Icarus.” She said with a sly movement of one brow upwards and an utterly vile smirk.

The guards behind him forced him out of his chair and began walking him out the door. “NO! WAIT! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” He squirmed and attempted to run before another guard was added to restrain him. 

They threw him into his old room before slamming the door in his face and sealing it closed with a click. He sat down on the bed, staring at the neatly folded familiar grey and orange jumpsuit and trainers. He shed his barbed-wire-torn clothes and replaced them with his Blackwing uniform.

 _This isn’t fair_ , he thought. _This isn’t how this works, it’s not supposed to be like this. It’s not supposed to end like this! I’m supposed to do the heroic thing, and then the universe rewards me, and Todd gets out, and then he gets me out, and we live happily ever after in a little cottage in the forest with a puppy and we solve non-violent cases and grow old together and- and…_ It was always a possibility that he would fail to get Dirk out. _If Todd can’t get me out he would move on and be happy and live his life to the fullest and- no._ He wanted to be with Todd, he hated the idea of Todd moving on. _But that’s what I want. I want him to be happy._ But he can’t be happy without being free. 

He felt cold. He felt abandoned. Betrayed.

“Fuck you, universe!” He yelled to the ceiling. “There I said it.”

He curled himself to the wall at the head of his bed. _It’s not supposed to be like this, it’s not supposed to end like this, this isn’t how it ends. There has to be something missing._

He was so done with everything. The universe had forsaken him. 

_I’m missing something, I’m missing something, there has to be something missing. Something I’ve seen, something in front of me. Something so blatantly obvious._

He choked back the tears spilling down his face. _Stupid, Dirk, stupid._

He hugged his knees to his chest and rocked himself back and forth, his head buried in, sniffing as he sobbed. _Think, Dirk, think_.

He had to think. It was time to solve the case. Solving the case is the only way out…

Or was it? 

What if he did belong here? What if he was supposed to be at Blackwing? He was dangerous. A constant cloud of death followed him everywhere he went. People got hurt, people died. The universe was broken. 

No. 

The universe was broken. He was supposed to fix it. That’s what Francis said. He didn’t belong here. He had to solve the case. 

_Think, Dirk, think!_

But oh, he was too tired to think, too upset to function.

He shifted down, wrapping the thin sheet around him, and thought over everything he knew. Every aspect of his life, everything in the case. 

But thoughts didn’t come to him, only the sweet release of sleep quelled his cries.


	26. Solved It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle the FUCK up because I'm about to explain EVERYTHING...  
> Also, this isn't the last chapter so stay tuned for one more.  
> And like I said last chapter, there will be a sequel and I'm almost done with the planning phase

Dirk woke up to a sound.

An odd sound. 

A very odd sound.

Almost indescribable, but if he had to try he would summarize it like this; Sharp and loud, organic with hints of something artificial. Roar like but muffled, wet and gurgling. Like a lion being strangled by an octopus if that made any possible sense.

And the sound that followed this sound was a series of sounds.

It started with the familiar flashing lights of his alarm clock but no voice said awake. No, instead a fast stream of “Alert, alert, alert,”s were heard. 

Then he heard cranking gears and gunshots.

And before he could even begin to guess what this all came from he had his answer.

A loud crash and a hissing of pipes erupted as a giant worm-monster-machine burst through the floor of his room. And sitting on this all too familiar worm was Zackariah Webb riding it like a horse with a comically large cowboy hat atop his head.

“Why are _you_ here?” Dirk asked.

“No time, Dirk. I’m getting you out of here! Here!” He reached into his pocket and threw a few small objects at him which upon closer inspection were candy. Taffies, mints, sherbert lemons, chocolates.

“Why are you giving me candy?”

“Like I said, no time to explain! We have to get the others!” He motioned for Dirk to climb aboard the worm.

“Alright then!” He jumped out of his bed and began climbing the horns lining the worms back before he realized… “This is a dream, isn’t it?”

Zackariah looked down at him with his cowboy hat having changed to a boat captain’s hat and said, “Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Aw nuts…” He backed off of the worm before it poofed into a cloud of smoke. And then it hit him. “Wait…”

Dirk sat up the second his eyes shot open into the real world. “HOLY SHIT!”

It came like a brain explosion. A familiar brain explosion. One of his favorite feelings in the world.

“I solved it...” He jumped out of bed and laughed. “I SOLVED IT!”

But this time it was different. 

It was different because his mind had practically experienced the “Big Bang”. That is to say, he knew everything. Well, not everything. But everything he needed to know, and then some.

He paced back and forth as his hands showed his state of mind through waving around rapidly. 

It was extremely overstimulating, it always was. Only this time it was more information than he had ever received at once, and faster than he had received it in the past. All of the information he needed flooded in at once in the span of a few seconds.

His fragile, mortal, human mind moving quickly, taking backflips and leaps to connect the dots and reshape and remold the cryptic cosmic message his brain had received in a language only he could understand and decode.

And this time, he knew everything. 

He knew everything about how everything worked.

And just then, a familiar moth flew in through his vent. A crazy coincidence, no, there weren’t any coincidences. Everything is connected. 

He always knew that, but this time those three words that guided his existence made sense in a way that they never had. 

“Mona? Is that you?”

The moth turned into his old friend. She smiled with every cell in her body, “Who else would it be?”

“Mona, I have never been so happy to see you in my life.” He ran to her and swept her into a large hug, practically suffocating her. She shrunk her body a tiny bit to escape his grasp and he moved back, startled at himself. “Sorry, should have asked first.”

“Oh, it’s fine, just too tight.” She laughed as she grew back to her normal size. “I heard a yell, thought it might have been from you. I was right.”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you-”

“You solved the case, I heard. Do you have a plan to get us out of here?”

He smirked. “Of course I do. And this time it isn’t stupid.”

“Let’s hear it then.”

* * *

Phase one:

Dirk and Mona followed their instincts and it led them to Bart rather quickly, minimal guards so that was a plus. 

When they reached her room Mona knocked both guards positioned in front of the large door out before they had any time to reach for their transmitters.

Dirk grabbed the keycard off of one of the guards and opened the door with a whirring _du-ZERRR thump._

“Dirk?” Bart sat on her bed cross-legged and sniffed as she raised her head. “Mona? Why are you here?”

“We’re here to get you out.” Dirk walked over to her bed and sat next to her.

“I belong here.” She curled her knees to her chest and buried her head down again.

“No, you don’t.” He sighed, “You did the right thing by killing Ken, you know that?”

“I know, it’s just… I didn’t want to.”

“I know. We all do things we don’t want to but have to sometimes.” He reached out to put a hand on her arm that hugged her legs to her center. 

“You don’t get it.” She turned away to face the wall. “I’ve never regretted a kill. Ever. I miss him. He was my first and only friend. He treated me like I wasn’t scary.”

“Bart, he didn’t treat you well. Sure in the beginning he did, but then he changed. It’s ok to miss people, it’s ok to have regrets. It's what we do after those moments that count. Make new friends. Hey, look at this!” She turned around and wiped her face on her sleeve, “I’m not running away, I’m not treating you like you’re scary. This makes what, well, definitely more than three times you haven’t killed me, and last time I checked that was your standard for best-friendhood.”

And she smiled.

“You have a beautiful smile, Bart.” He opened his arms and she dove in for a hug, giggling. He returned and added, “Never let anyone tell you you’re scary. Unless you want to be, then be scary all you want.”

Bart pulled away, “Thank you, Dirk.”

“No problem. Now, are we going to get out of here or not? I solved the case!”

“Hell yeah, let's go!”

* * *

Phase two:

Todd lied in bed in his room, staying as still as possible, trying not to think about his leg.

Yesterday after awoke in this room he was told what happened. That he passed out after he was shot and they took him in for surgery, that he was lucky he was still able to walk, and that he was now a Blackwing subject under the name “Project Chiron”.

How could be so stupid? How could he let this happen? He was going to spend the rest of his life in this hell hole, all alone.

No, Dirk would get him out. Dirk always saved the day. Or would he?

Todd had told him to stay behind, but surely he would realize something was wrong and come get him. Or would he? Would it be too much for him? No, he would shut all of that down. Would he be stupid? Well, he would have to do it alone- fuck, he was screwed.

And just then he heard the rattle of a door-handle. He rolled over, not able to see what was behind the frosted glass, just a blob.

They were probably here to take him for his first day of testing. He slowly sat up and winced when he swung his legs over the side of his bed. And as he reached for the crutches leaning against the wall the door opened to reveal-

“TODD!” Dirk smiled bigger than he could ever imagine possible.

“Dirk?” He returned with a gasp of a laugh, overcome with so many emotions.

Dirk ran and fell to Todd’s feet, taking his hands into his, taking his arms into his, rising and taking his lips into his in their most passionate kiss to date, knowing that everything would be ok. Everything from now on would be ok, they had each other, they, therefore, had the world.

“I better not be fucking dreaming,” Todd rested his forehead on Dirk’s. 

“You’re definitely not dreaming, my love.” He ran his fingers through Todd’s hair, sweeping it out of his face to look at his perfect blue eyes, tearing with overwhelming joy. “How’s your leg?”

“Shit... How do you-”

“Farah and Tina… OH!” He jumped up. “I forgot to tell you, I solved the case!”

Todd almost forgot about the condition of his leg and also jumped up in excitement before sitting back down with a grunt. “Let’s hear it then.”

“Not yet, that’s phase three of the plan.”

“What?”

* * *

Phase three:

After getting Farah and Tina, and Amanda, and The Rowdy 3, and Beast… really that could have been phase three and phase three could have been phase four but a three-phase plan is a classic and Dirk didn’t want to muddy it with an anti-climatic phase four. No, that’s preposterous. _All_ good epic action plans are in three phases and he rather liked the idea of it being an epic action plan. Getting everyone else could be phase-two-and-a-half, yes, that was a good compromise. Why did Todd have his own phase? Because he was just so perfect that it deserved to be its own phase.

What is phase three you may ask? Try, and _try_ being the keyword here, using Dirk’s new-found information to persuade Wilson and the rest of the higher-ups at Blackwing to dismantle the operation. Plan B was simple and effective, it made Plan A look ridiculous, over-complicated and a waste of precious time, but Plan B was also dangerous and possibly could land them all in jail for the rest of their lives so Plan A is what they were going with for the time being.

And it just so happened, well, nothing “just so happened”, everything is connected and all that, that Wilson happened to have a meeting that day that happened to be in Blackwing that happened to have everyone they needed present in a scenario that they happened to need.

Yes, everything was perfectly going according to Dirk’s _three-phase_ -which-was-more-like-three-and-a-half-phases-but-split-into-A-and-B- _plan._

And the time for phase three had finally come. And Dirk was never more excited to explain everything in his life. 

“LISTEN UP EVERYBODY!” Dirk burst through the door in the meeting room. Wilson and everyone stared blankly at him. “Damn it I wish I said something cooler,” he muttered under his breath. “Dirk Gently has solved the case!”

“How did you-” Wilson said before just shaking her head. “Never mind, just get them back in their rooms.”

The guards stationed in the back of the room came forward and tried to restrain Dirk but he kicked them off. “NO, you’re going to listen to me, and then you’re going to decide what to do when I’m finished. I have Marzana with me and she has a gun.”

Dirk pointed behind them and Bart raised a hand and waved, “Hi.”

“Let’s just get this stupid thing over with.” Wilson pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

Everyone came in and Dirk went to step next to Wilson at the head of the table. “May I?”

“Are you seriously-” She responded before one of the military officers seated at the table nodded, intrigued.

Wilson just sat down at an empty chair in defeat and Dirk took the floor.

“I’ve solved the case. Not just the case of Oneiroi, no. I solved the case of human existence.”

A series of “holy shit”s and “oh my God”s and just gasps and various other shocked responses floated through the room before Dirk moved his hands to silence them which they surprisingly obeyed.

“In the 1800s-1886 to be exact- September 23rd, 1886 to be even more exact- a man named Zackariah Webb had been attempting to make a time machine, all seemed bleak until it was sent to the future -1968- and a different machine returned with a note signed by yours truly.”

“We already knew that, Dirk,” Farah said. 

“I’m getting to it! See, when the machine arrived in 1968 the first thing the hippies squatting in the house did was alert the police, not immediately turn into a cult as we previously thought. For obvious reasons, the local authorities didn’t believe them... And then Zackariah showed up... This was the game-changer because this man was clearly from the past. And the case received attention from a newly established government branch under the CIA known as ‘Blackbook’. Zackariah Webb became the second, or third depending on how you look at it, we will get there in a moment, anomaly here. Project Chronos. The holistic engineer.”

“How do you know this?” One of the people sitting at the table asked, Dirk just smiled. He was right.

“Wait,” Farah said. “That's why he was so uncomfortable talking about Oneiroi, and Blackwing. That’s why we could trust him, he wasn’t working for them, he was put to work BY them.”

“Bingo.” Dirk snapped.

“Holistic?” Todd said. “That’s why for whatever reason he became obsessed with making the machine, the universe told him to.”

“ _Ding, ding, ding!_ But we aren’t done yet. No, we’re far from done. This is where the story splits and gets a _little_ complicated.”

“A little?” Martin asked. “This is already _very_ complicated.”

“I still have no idea of what is happening,” Cross said. “And I still love it.”

“In 1934 a couple in Ocean Hill, Louisiana gave birth to a little girl named Esther. They owned a boat called the Pollock, and they sold fish for money. And then in 1939, they gave birth to another child. A baby boy. Esther was jealous of her new brother and the stress caused her to develop, wait for it, god-like reality-warping powers that activated whenever she fell asleep. That alone isn’t the reason, otherwise, every eldest child would be like that. She always had them, they just awoke in 1939, because what happened in 1939? The beginning of World War II... It started off as escapism. Her mind creating fun little things to make her feel less alone, but they turned to nightmares. The family handled it well for a couple of years, much better than the Cardenases did. What changed? One spring night in 1941, Esther’s father was out late, it was storming. She went to bed afraid, and so she slept afraid, and her deepest fear that he wouldn’t return to shore came to fruition. Her father and the Pollock were lost to the sea.”

“Oh my god,” Tina said. “No wonder she said she was dangerous. That would traumatize any kid.”

“Her mother didn’t know what to do. So? She called the government. She had heard the order for the government to take in 20 children to a house in Ocean Hill so she asked if there was room for one more. Coincidentally, this day was April 29th, 1941, three days before the experiment began. AND coincidentally also, that day during nap time, her brother had a bad dream. His first reality-warping one. That’s right, Esther’s brother is none other than Francis!”

“Holy shit,” Amanda said.

“This is so cool,” Bart added.

“The government took her to the house, but not her brother, they didn’t have space for him yet. They would return for him the next day. But upon arrival she realized how she and her brother would be treated here, so she came up with a plan. She packed a box with a note, a photo of their family, and drawings of Wendimoor, _also_ I forgot to mention that Esther was the one who invented Wendimoor, not Francis. She told him stories of this place and they were packed into his subconscious. The plan was to create Wendimoor for real, bring the boat back from the bottom of the ocean, turn back time so her brother would be a baby and forget all of the stress and heartache of this, and send the boat with her brother, now named the ‘Infant Male Pollock Francis’ to Wendimoor. But while she was asleep and the boat ascended into the sky she was put into the machine by Lillian Black and had her soul separated before he could get to Wendimoor. So instead it jumped through time and ended up in Bergsberg, Montana in the 1950s. And Wendimoor wasn’t fully created, it was in a state of limbo. That explains the creature known as Bibbit in the house.”

“And why the portal and pocket dimension were there too!” Tina added.

“YES! And now is the part where I explain everything about everything. The meaning of life! Why I exist, why you Bart, Mona, and The Rowdy 3 exist. Why Pararibulitis exists… First. The meaning of life. The universe has a plan. And the plan was to not have a plan.”

“That’s what Wakti said.” Todd gasped.

“Wakti?” Amanda turned to Todd. “How is she?”

Dirk angrily shushed them.

“The idea was to _learn_ , to _experience_ , to tell every _possible_ story.” 

His eyes were bright in a way they had never been, he was in his element, he was exacting his life’s purpose in that moment. And he spoke with a glitter to his voice. Gaining momentum with every syllable, his words reaching new godly heights. 

But he wasn’t Icarus. The limit doesn’t exist. He wouldn’t fall, he would soar. And his wings grew with every breath he took, they didn’t melt, they didn’t burn. He flew, he flew so high, and it was beautiful. He would never come down again. And unlike Icarus, the universe was ok with that. 

“The universe created a sandbox reality where humans were puppets meant to put on a show, and for authenticity, they have free will. There was no plan. Everything is connected and nothing is also connected. Creation _isn’t_ ineffable! ... We’re meant to break molds and rules, that's how we learn, and that’s how the universe learns!” 

He paused his dramatic spitting of information as his face stilled and words slowed.

“But in the 1940s we broke the universe. We did something it never expected, never planned for, never calculated. Free will had failed the plan-no-plan. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t supposed to be planned, this choice couldn’t be made. Man’s harnessing of the atom… Now, we had the ability to wipe everything out and the universe wasn’t ok with that. That was the exact moment the universe broke beyond repair… So, for the first time ever, the universe made an actual plan. It would send down anomalies to fix things.”

The room stilled, understanding washing over every person in the room, their minds had been blown.

“It started with Esther. She was supposed to fix things, Zackariah was supposed to time travel to mentor her. But then Oneiroi came into existence so while Francis was supposed to be normal, the universe gave him powers too after she was to be sent away. And after she was killed Francis had the crown of being the fix-er. Then he was captured. Then it sent in Martin, then Cross, then Gripps, then Vogel. It snowballed and I was added, then Mona, then Bart, then everyone else. The war was unavoidable. This is where Amanda comes in, she’s supposed to unite everyone, bring us all together. And she did.”

She smiled.

“She was supposed to gather us so we could win the war with Blackwing so they stop getting in the way of fixing things. And here in this moment, this is the war…”

Dirk turned to Wilson, pleading for any drop of empathy she had buried down deep in her. 

“Let us win. The universe can’t begin to repair until you stop hunting us down. We can’t be contained. Let’s end this bloodshed. Let’s fix things… what do you say? You’re the one in charge after all.”

She stared for a moment at him, then to her shoes, then back up at him. “No.”

“I’m sorry, what?” All hope had left his being.

“No. You’re dangerous, you should be locked up.”

“Please. Think about this.”

“GUARDS!” 

Dirk stepped back far away from Wilson and looked at Bart. “Plan B.”

“Got it.” She raised her gun and before anything could happen, a bang, a flash of light, and the bullet hit between her brows, flinging her backwards to the floor. “Alright, who’s in charge next?”

Everyone at the table looked over to Lieutenant Assistent who had been quiet this entire time, no one noticed him. 

“I guess that’s me.” He said. “Please don’t kill me.” 

“Depends,” Bart stepped closer to him. “What do _you_ say?”

He paused for a moment, gears turning in his head. “What do _I_ say?” It was never his choice before. “I mean… I’ve seen all of the crazy shit that has gone down in this place and I’m sick of it, to be honest.”

Bart lowered her gun and grinned before he continued.

“Anomalies can’t be contained, they shouldn’t. _I_ say... to hell with it. Let’s start fixing things instead of breaking them.”

“Are you sure, _Supervisor_ Assistent?” A man from the table asked.

“Positive.” He gave a single firm nod.

And everyone erupted into joyous celebration, they did it, they would never have to worry about Blackwing again.

While the chaos of cheers erupted around them, Dirk walked back over to Todd.

“Did it,” Dirk said with his snap.

“You did.” He laughed. “You solved it.” 

“We won, Todd.” Dirk took Todd’s face into his hands.

“We won.” He closed the gap between them with a sweet, victorious, kiss.


	27. The Pause-Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done... I did it. Done, DID IT! *does the snap*

For a while, everything was all right. Everything was calm, perfect even if you consider yourself ambitious.

Assistent dismantled Blackwing and went on to live a normal life with his husband. He was definitely glad for him to be done with all of this chaos. The other CIA members remaining in the Blackwing branch had the option to be relocated or leave. And Blackwing would no longer be a problem.

Bart went off to find herself, finding herself most likely involved killing people who messed with the balance. But she didn’t feel regret for killing Ken anymore, and now she had some decent social skills too. 

Amanda and The Rowdy 3 continued their search for anomalies, letting the road take them where they needed to go. 

Tina went back to Bergsberg for the time being. "For the time being" being the keywords here. She decided to come to Seattle and be with Farah, maybe join the police there, before he dismantled Blackwing, Assistent put in a good word for her. Well, as good of an honest word you can give for Tina. But she wanted some time back in Montana to tie off loose ends, and she and Farah were fine with that.

Todd’s leg healed nicely, it took many long hours of draining physical therapy to ensure that. Often, sessions would end with Todd having an attack or just being out of spoons and in pain, and of course, Dirk was there through all of it. Cheering him from the sidelines and comforting him when they got home.

When they got home… That's a specific choice of words. Almost like they moved in with each other. _They did?_ They did, and they were never happier. 

They lived for each other's craziness. They lived for their adventures. They woke up happier in the morning now that they were together. And now, that they woke up next to each other, they woke up even happier.

Truly everything was perfect. Too perfect.

It was like those eight months of nothing. And the stillness was beginning to weigh down on them.

The universe gave them a break, and that break was coming to an end.

But for now, they were at ease, free to enjoy every day to it’s fullest. Soaking up every little joyous moment. For now, they had their happily ever… 

During…

_The_ \- not _“The End”_ , definitely not _the_ end. Maybe _an_ end. An end to _this_ story. See, endings are final, this isn’t final. We’ll be back. So let’s call this:

_“The Pause”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT I WROTE A FUCKING NOVEL.
> 
> Ok, first I'd like to thank everyone for reading. This has been my passion project for the past month and a half. For those curious, I began writing the book on 08/24/20. The book was completed on 11/03/20.
> 
> But seriously, If you've been here since the beginning and you read the whole thing I would like to just say... You're amazing and thank you so so much. I can't emphasize how much you all and this show mean to me. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed the book, and if you did I'd like to tell you some good news. There is more coming.  
> Like I said before I am writing a sequel. Not to mention the series I have that takes place in this universe, but the novels are the priority.  
> I did this entire book without a beta-reader and in my next book I'm hoping to find one and I'm not exactly sure how to go about finding one. So if you or anyone you know would be interested, please let me know. And reviews are always welcome and if you have time I would love that as this is my first time writing a book, or publishing anything I wrote, hell my first time writing fanfiction. All the writing I've done in the past has been original and they, unfortunately, didn't go anywhere. So yeah, any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Ok, now before I go I would once again like to thank you for sticking with me to the end of the book, you're all awesome. And if you plan on sticking around, that's even more awesome. 
> 
> Ok, I'm going now... THANK YOU ALL!

**Author's Note:**

> Finally putting my book on a respectable website! I honestly didn't know that anything other than "the app that shall not be named" existed. (I'm still keeping it on there though...)
> 
> So I'd like to hear your thoughts because I have no friends IRL who like DGHDA (except 1, but they're still working on finishing it.) I want to have a convo in the comments! (Especially on more drama heavy/angsty or fluffier chapters)
> 
> Requests are always open!!! I'll just have to find a way to fit them in the plot...  
> (Also, to those who ask why I put canon relationship in the tags... BROTZLY IS CANON! There's a comic, look it up.)


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